DALLAS (AP) — The former Dallas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in his own home told a 911 dispatcher "I thought it was my apartment" nearly 20 times as she waited for emergency responders to arrive, according to a recording of the call obtained by a Dallas TV station.
"I'm an off-duty officer. I thought I was in my apartment and I shot a guy thinking he was, thinking it was my apartment," Amber Guyger said in the Sept. 6 recording obtained by WFAA .
Guyger, who is white, is charged in the killing of Botham Jean and is set to go to trial later this year. She has said she entered Jean's apartment, thinking it was her own, and fatally shot him. The department fired her in the weeks following the shooting.
On the call, Guyger can be heard apologizing to Jean, who was a 26-year-old native of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia who worked in Dallas for an accounting and consulting firm.
WFAA hasn't said how it obtained the recording.
Dallas police did not authorize the audio's release and the department has opened an internal affairs investigation into the matter, said Senior Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez. The department again declined to provide the recording to The Associated Press in response to a public records request, saying Tuesday it is exempt as part of an ongoing criminal case. A spokeswoman for the Dallas County District Attorney's office and one of Guyger's lawyers, Toby Shook, declined to comment, citing a judge's gag order in the case.
Guyger sounds frantic during the nearly six-minute call, saying "I'm gonna lose my job" and "I am going to need a supervisor." At one point, she seems to question how she ended up in Jean's apartment and says, "I'm so tired." The call ends as police officers arrive and Guyger tells them, "No, it's me. I'm off...
