Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man in his apartment in September 2018, told a dispatcher 19 times "I thought it was my apartment," according to a 911 recording obtained by Dallas TV station WFAA.
The recording possibly provides some answers as to what was going through Guyger's head the night she shot 26-year-old Botham Jean.
"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," Guyger, 30, said in the September 6, 2018, recording, as she waited for police to arrive on the scene.
At one point during the recording she said, “I’m going to lose my job.” At another point, she whimpered, "I didn't mean to…I didn't mean to…"
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Guyger previously told police that she opened fire in self-defense after entering Jean's apartment, saying she mistook the St. Lucia native for an intruder in her home. The two apparently didn't know each other and lived one floor apart; Guyger lived in the apartment below Jean's. According to her affidavit, the apartment was dark. Guyger says she only turned on the lights after the fatal shooting, while she was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher.
She was arrested on a charge of manslaughter three days after the shooting. After an internal affairs investigation, Guyger was fired from her job at the Dallas Police Department two weeks after the incident. A grand jury indicted her on a murder charge in late November. The case is set for trial in September.
She was charged with murder in late November 2018, and Jean's family has since filed a lawsuit against her and the city of Dallas.
According to Dayton Daily News, police didn't authorize the release of the audio due to the ongoing criminal investigation.
An internal affairs investigation into how the recording was released is underway, but you can listen to the full recording below.
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