NEWS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
Dallas dismissed from lawsuit over police shooting
DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has ruled the city of Dallas is not liable for an off-duty police officer fatally shooting a man in his apartment last year.
On Monday, December 23, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn dismissed the city from a civil lawsuit that the family of Botham Jean brought after Amber Guyger killed the 26-year-old.
The ruling leaves the 31-year-old former officer as the sole defendant in the suit, which argues she used excessive force and that better police training could have prevented Jean’s death. It makes a substantial financial settlement unlikely.
In her brief ruling, Lynn wrote that she was upholding a magistrate judge’s decision and dismissing the city because the suit failed “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
Guyger was found guilty of murder for Jean’s death and sentenced to a decade in October. She testified at trial that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own on the floor below and thought he was an intruder.
Jean, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, had been eating a bowl of ice cream when Guyger entered his home and shot him.
His death drew national attention for its unusual circumstances and as one of several prominent killings of black men by white police officers.
A lawyer for Jean’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Police: 2 parishioners shot and killed Texas church gunman
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (AP) — Congregants returned fire and fatally shot a gunman who killed at least one person in a church near Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, police said.
A second parishioner has life-threatening injuries following the attack at the West Freeway Church of Christ, White Settlement Police Department Chief J.P. Bevering said during a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The assailant fired at least once before the “heroic actions” of the congregants cut his assault short, Bevering said.
“Unfortunately, this country has seen so many of these that we’ve actually gotten used to it at this point. And it’s tragic and it’s a terrible situation, especially during the holiday season,” Jeoff Williams, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at the news conference. “I would like to point out that we have a couple of heroic parishioners who stopped short of just anything that you can even imagine, saved countless lives, and our hearts are going out to them and their families as well.”
Authorities have released scant details about the victims, the shooter and what led to the attack.
An elder at the church told the New York Times that one of those killed was a security guard who responded to the shooter, calling him a dear friend.
“He was trying to do what he needed to do to protect the rest of us,” said the elder, Mike Tinius.
“It’s extremely upsetting to see anyone committing violence,” he said.
Tinius said he didn’t know the gunman and that the shooting appeared to be random.
A woman who answered the phone at the West Freeway Church of Christ told the AP she could not answer any questions and that she was told to direct inquiries to authorities.
In a livestream of the church service, the gunman can be seen getting up from a pew and talking to someone at the back of the church before pulling out a gun and opening fire. Parishioners can then be heard screaming and seen ducking under pews or running as papers fly to the floor.
More than 100 people, including children, can be seen sitting in the pews from the livestream’s viewpoint.
Two people with minor injuries sustained while ducking for cover were treated at the scene, MedStar Mobile Healthcare spokeswoman Macara Trusty said.
Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state to pray for the victims, their loved ones and the community of White Settlement, about 8 miles (12 kilometers) west of Fort Worth.
“Places of worship are meant to be sacred, and I am grateful for the church members who acted quickly to take down the shooter and help prevent further loss of life,” Abbott said in a tweeted statement.
It is not the first deadly shooting to take place at a church in Texas. In November 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire on the congregation at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing more than two dozen worshippers, before taking his own life.
