This is Atatiana Jefferson.

On October 12th 2019, 28 year-old Atatiana Jefferson was playing video games at home with her young nephew Zion. Her neighbor noticed that her door was open and called a non-emergency number. When then Fort Worth Police Officer Aaron Dean arrived and saw Atatiana looking out her own window, he shot and killed her. 

Body camera footage released by Fort Worth PD shows officers swarming Atatiana’s home. An officer can be heard shouting commands at the house, failing to identify himself as a police officer, and then immediately shooting into the home killing Atatiana and endangering 8-year-old Zion, who was forced to witness his aunt’s murder by Fort Worth police.

The officer who murdered Atatiana had a history of assault, and the Fort Worth Police Department’s deadly, highly militarized policing culture has claimed more lives than any other police force in the region.

The former Fort Worth Police officer who murdered Atatiana, Aaron Dean, had been previously charged with assaulting a young woman. Evaluations of Dean during his time at Fort Worth PD showed concerns with his communication and impulse control, with one supervisor noting he had “tunnel vision”. Dean should never have been hired at all—instead he was given a gun and along with other officers engaged in a highly militarized response to what should have been a simple, non-emergency check in at Atatiana’s home. He is a danger to the community and he belongs in a jail cell, not out on bail roaming the streets.

Though Fort Worth PD has distanced themselves from Dean they have done nothing to stop their deadly pattern of aggression that still persists today. In 2019 alone FWPD officers were involved in 9 shootings, 7 of them fatal. Many of the incidents lack death reports for the victims and in multiple cases officers involved are still patrolling the streets today.

Enough is enough. Former Officer Aaron Dean and the practices of Fort Worth PD are a danger to the community. We must ensure accountability so that Atatiana and her family can finally secure justice. It is up to us to demand the funding of critical community programs like the Atatiana Project—started by Zion and the family to create opportunities in STEM for underrepresented children and share Atatiana’s love of gaming—over more militarized police.

We must demand accountability. Join us in urging Fort Worth City Council, Mayor Betsy Price, and Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson to fund the Atatiana Project, and appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate the murder of Atatiana Jefferson and finally secure justice for her family.