A man is dead after authorities say an off-duty Dallas cop opened fire after entering the wrong apartment at her complex Thursday night.
Dallas Police Department officials said the incident occurred around 10 p.m. after the female officer wrapped up her shift and was headed home to the South Side Flats apartments. The complex is just minutes from the police department in downtown Dallas.
Once there, the officer somehow entered what she believed was her apartment and encountered a man she did not recognize. That’s when police say she opened fire, killing the man.
According to FOX 4, responding officers arrived to find 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean badly wounded. Jean was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
The young man was a native of St. Lucia, per the St. Lucia Times, and comes from a family of parliamentarians. He had studied accounting at Harding University and was working as a risk assurance associate for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A distraught family member told the newspaper that the officer’s key was found in the lock to Jean’s door after she “tried unsuccessfully” to open it.
“It’s super scary because the police are supposed to protect you and then they come home and, you know, you’re just hanging out in your own house, and then they come in thinking they’re home or whatever,” said resident Richard Healy Nelson, who, like others in the building, learned of the shooting via a notification on the app NextDoor.
“I don’t know if she was tired but that’s pretty scary,” Nelson added.
Police have remained mum about what led to the shooting and if the female officer fired out of fear or for some other reason. It’s also still unclear how she managed to get into the wrong apartment.
The unnamed officer is now on administrative leave, according to department officials.
Dallas police have since launched its own investigation and will also conduct a joint investigation with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office.
“As information becomes available, we’ll be sure to update you all accordingly,” police Sgt. Warren Mitchell told reporters Thursday.
Watch more in the clip below.
