Dallas officer faces manslaughter charge in shooting of neighbor

DALLAS - A white Dallas police officer was arrested Sunday on a manslaughter charge in the off-duty shooting of a black man who was her neighbor, Texas authorities said.

Officer Amber Guyger was booked into the Kaufman County Jail, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a news release.

The department said the investigation is ongoing and that no additional information was available.

A jail employee said Guyger was released on bond. Online records initially showed Guyger was in custody at the jail, but later she was not listed on the jail inmate roster.

Guyger fatally shot 26-year-old Botham Jean on Thursday at Jean’s apartment. Lawyers for Jean’s family had been calling for Guyger’s arrest, saying the fact that she had remained free days after the shooting showed she was receiving favorable treatment.

They held a news conference Sunday night, shortly before the arrest was announced, making another plea for the officer to be taken into custody and saying their team had presented new evidence - a witness and video footage - to prosecutors. They didn’t provide details.

Guyger, 30, is a four-year veteran of the police force. According to police, Guyger shot and killed Jean after returning in uniform to a building where they both had apartments, following her shift. Guyger reported the shooting to dispatchers and she told officers who responded that she had mistaken Jean’s apartment for her own.

Many questions remain about what led Guyger to shoot Jean. Police Chief U. Renee Hall Hall said the officer’s blood was drawn at the scene so that it could be tested for alcohol and drugs. Investigators haven’t released the results of those tests.