Dallas to rename street after shooting victim Botham Jean

| January 27, 2021 | LOCAL, NATIONAL, NEWS | No Comments
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FILE – In this Sept. 21, 2017, file photo, provided by Harding University in Searcy, Ark., Botham Jean leads worship at a university presidential reception in Dallas. Fired Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger, who shot and killed Botham Jean, an unarmed 26-year-old neighbor in his own apartment last year, was found guilty of murder by a jury on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019. She told police she thought his apartment was her own and that he was an intruder.(Jeff Montgomery/Harding University via AP, File)

DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas City Council unanimously approved the renaming of a stretch of street after Botham Jean, a Black man who was shot and killed by a white Dallas police officer who said she mistook his apartment for her own.

The vote Wednesday to rename the stretch of South Lamar Street “Botham Jean Boulevard” came after more than 90 minutes of public testimony and discussion by the City Council, The Dallas Morning News reported.

“I’m imploring this council to seriously think about the message we want to send as a city by letting this come up to the point of actually voting on this, having this family participating in this process, and putting that family through any more pain than they’ve been through,” Mayor Eric Johnson said before the 15-0 vote.

Amber Guyger shot Jean, who was 26, in his apartment after returning home from her shift. Guyger, now 32, testified at her trial that she thought he was an intruder in her apartment, which was on a different floor of the apartment building.

Botham Jean Boulevard will run between Interstate 30 and the South Central Expressway. The stretch of road will be renamed within 60 days and will cost an estimated $20,000.

Guyger, who was fired after shooting Jean, was convicted of murder in his death and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jean’s family has a pending federal lawsuit against her and the city.