Dallas police are pursuing a manslaughter case against one of their own officers after she shot and killed her neighbour, officials said on Friday. The unnamed officer thought 26-year-old Botham Jean's flat was her own when she entered, according to police. She had walked into the flat following her shift on Thursday and then called police, saying that she had shot a man. Officials said that the officer's blood was being tested for drugs and alcohol. Jean was taken to hospital where he later died. It is unclear what happened immediately before the shooting. Officials said that they do not know how the officer got into Jean's home, or whether the front door was open or unlocked. "Right now, there are more questions than we have answers," Dallas police chief U Renee Hall said at a press conference. Hall said she did not know where the officer was. It is unclear whether she is in custody. Jean worked for accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, which said that people at the firm were "heartbroken" following his death. Jean grew up in St Lucia and was a graduate of Harding University in Arkansas, where he was known for his love of singing and for leading services in the university chapel. "Botham was in the prime of his life," Ignatius Jean, Jean's uncle, said. He added that the killing had left Jean's relatives in St Lucia devastated and that Jean was a "brilliant" man of "impeccable character". "You want to think it's fiction... and you have to grapple with the reality", he said. The Texas Rangers, a department which investigates crime across the state, will conduct an independent investigation into Jean's death, police said. Associated Press contributed to this report<doc-sep>Dallas police said Friday they are seeking a warrant for manslaughter against one of their own after an off-duty officer entered the wrong apartment in her building and killed a man who was inside. Police Chief Reneé Hall said a blood sample was drawn at her request to test the officer's drug and alcohol levels and "we are in the process of obtaining a warrant based on the circumstances." She said at a news conference that the Texas Rangers were launching an independent investigation. Investigators are "working as vigorously and meticulously as we can to ensure the integrity of this case and ensure the integrity of the department is upheld," Hall said. The officer was off-duty at the time of the shooting and Hall said her name would be released if she's officially charged. Further details surrounding the death of Botham Shem Jean, a 26-year-old native of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, were not immediately provided. Hall did not say why the officer opened fire and declined to discuss what she may have been doing before she returned home after working a full shift Thursday. Jean's mother, Allie Jean, who lives in St. Lucia and has been visiting with a daughter this week in Brooklyn, New York, said that she wants to forgive the officer and has a question for her: Why? "She took away my heart, she took away my soul, she took away everything," she said. "He didn't deserve to die like that." Botham Shem Jean was shot when a Dallas police officer returning home from her shift entered the wrong apartment in her building. via Facebook Dallas police in a statement said that preliminary information suggests the officer involved called 911, and told responding officers that "she entered the victim's apartment believing that it was her own." The incident began just before 10 p.m. CT (11 p.m. ET) at the South Side Flats, an upscale apartment complex directly south of Dallas' downtown. During the encounter, the officer was in full uniform and "fired her weapon striking the victim," police said. Jean was taken to the hospital and died. The Dallas County Medical Examiner later released his identity. At a news conference early Friday, Dallas police Sgt. Warren Mitchell said they had yet to interview the officer and would not speculate as to whether she mistakenly entered another apartment and believed the man already inside was an intruder. "We still have a lot to do in this investigation," Mitchell added. Allie Jean said her son lived in a gated apartment complex and had no reason not to trust anyone who was at his door. "He's that kind of person," she said. But she questioned how the situation could have escalated to her son's shooting. "Somebody has to be crazy not to realize that they walked into the wrong apartment," Allie Jean said. "He's a bachelor. Things are different inside." "And if you try your key and it doesn't work, that should make you realize you're at the wrong apartment," she added. "Every door for each apartment is also numbered." Allie Jean said she would speak with her son daily, usually before 10 p.m., but thought he might be out after she didn't hear from him. She remembered her son, who was nicknamed Bo, as a top student who loved serving as a song leader in church and leading worship. He attended Harding University, a private Christian institution in Arkansas, and was a member of the Good News Singers and campus ministry. "I don't think there was a student on campus who didn't know Botham," said Landis Tindell, who knew him as a resident adviser. "He was always friendly, always smiling, and just all around a great person." After Jean graduated in 2016, he remained in the U.S. with an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, his mother said. The company said he was an associate in its risk assurance department. "We were very, very close," Allie Jean added. "We would talk about everything, about politics. Botham loved everyone, and everyone loved him." His sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, wrote on Facebook that she was thinking about what to get Jean for his 27th birthday later this month, but "now I have to go pick out your casket." "My brother is my best friend," she told NBC News. "My heart is broken beyond repair." CORRECTION (Sept. 7, 2018, 3:52 p.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misstated where the mother of the victim was when she was interviewed by phone. Allie Jean was in Brooklyn, New York, not St. Lucia.<doc-sep>
DALLAS, Texas (KTRK) -- A Dallas police officer who shot and killed her neighbor and later explained that she had mistaken his apartment for her own will be charged with manslaughter, the police chief said Friday.It's not clear what the officer may have said to 26-year-old Botham Jean between entering his home and shooting him late Thursday, police Chief U. Renee Hall said during a news conference. But given what investigators currently know about the case, they decided to pursue a manslaughter charge, she said. "Right now there are more questions than we have answers," Hall said, adding that she spoke to Jean's sister to express the department's condolences to the family.It's not clear whether the officer is in custody, though Hall said she didn't know the officer's whereabouts.According to police, the officer, whose name hasn't been released, returned home in her uniform after her shift. She called dispatch to report that she had shot a man, and she later told the officers who responded to the call that she believed the victim's apartment was her own when she entered it.The responding officers administered first aid to Jean, a native of the Caribbean island country of St. Lucia who attended college in Arkansas and worked for accounting and consulting firm PwC. Jean was taken to a hospital, where he died.Hall said the officer's blood was drawn to be tested for drugs and alcohol. She declined to speculate as to whether fatigue or other factors, including race, may have factored into the shooting. She also said the Texas Rangers will conduct an independent investigation.Authorities haven't said how the officer got into Jean's home, or whether his door was open or unlocked. The apartment complex is just a few blocks from Dallas' police headquarters.Residents of the apartment complex said they can access their units with a regular key or through a keypad code.Two women who live on the second floor near where the shooting happened said they heard a lot of noise late Thursday. "It was, like, police talk: 'Open up! Open up!'" 20-year-old Caitlin Simpson told The Dallas Morning News.Yazmine Hernandez, 20, was studying with Simpson when they heard the commotion. "We heard cops yelling, but otherwise had no idea what was going on," Hernandez said.Jean grew up in St. Lucia and attended Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, where he often led campus worship services before graduating in 2016, the school said in a statement. That July, he went to work for PwC in risk assurance.