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Updated at 10:30 a.m. with comments from Jean's university and employer.
A Dallas officer fatally shot a 26-year-old man Thursday night when she entered his apartment near downtown, mistaking it for her own, police say.
The officer was not hurt in the 10 p.m. shooting at the South Side Flats at 1210 S. Lamar St., blocks from Dallas police headquarters in the Cedars.
Police officials say she had arrived at the complex after working a full shift and was still in full uniform when she entered the victim's apartment, thinking it was her home.
The victim was identified as Botham Shem Jean, a native of the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia. A graduate of Harding University in Arkansas, he's worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to his LinkedIn.
Botham Jean, 26, was shot and killed inside his apartment at the South Side Flats near downtown Dallas.
(Facebook)
Authorities did not explain how the situation escalated to the shooting, declining to comment on whether the officer mistook Jean for an intruder.
"I won't go into that information right now," said Sgt. Warren Mitchell, a Dallas police spokesman. "We have not interviewed her. ... We still have a lot to do in this investigation."
Mitchell said that after the officer reported Jean was wounded, other police officers who responded administered first aid to him. He was taken to Baylor University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The officer, who has not been publicly identified, was placed on leave while the shooting is investigated with the Dallas district attorney's office.
According to the St. Lucia Times, Jean was the son of Alison Jean, who has served as permanent secretary for the island's Department of Education, Innovation & Gender Relations as well as the Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services & Transport.
Permanent secretaries supervise government departments, under direct management from the nation's ministers.
Jean's uncle paid tribute to the man Friday morning on Facebook.
"My heart goes with you my boy ... never thought this day would come, wanted to be there for you always my boy ... how can this nasty world take you away from me," Earl Jean wrote.
My heart goes with you my boy...never thought this day would come ,wanted to be there for you always my boy ...how can...
Posted by Earl Jean on Friday, September 7, 2018
"[He was] a powerful singer," Tracy Moore, a preacher who knew Jean from a Church of Christ Caribbean lecture series told The Christian Chronicle. "Always a spirit of joy that flowed from him.
"He was a great guy who loved to smile, very positive leader for the young men that we had here," fellow Harding student Romas Roberson said. "Everyone loved his voice!"
Harding University officials were mourning the beloved former worship leader at morning chapel services, a university employee said.
"We're all deeply grieved," spokeswoman Jana Rucker said. "He was just one of those people who really stood out, with his voice and his leadership."
"This is a terrible tragedy," PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in a statement. "Botham Jean was a member of the PwC family in our Dallas office and we are simply heartbroken to hear of his death."
It was unclear how the officer got into the wrong apartment, where residents said they can access their units with a regular key or through a keypad code.
Police did not indicate that anyone else had witnessed the shooting, but 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 said.
Yazmine Hernandez, 20, was studying with Simpson when they heard the commotion.
"We heard cops yelling," she said, "but otherwise had no idea what was going on."
Other residents of the South Side Flats struggled to understand how the shooting happened.
"How can you make a mistake like that, getting into someone else's apartment?" said 80-year-old Raquel, who has lived in the complex for less than a year. "Don't they train police?"
The woman, who says she never gives out her last name, said she'd think twice when calling the police after this experience.
"Now if something happens to me," she said, "I'm going to be too scared to call police because I'm afraid it will end in a tragedy."
The South Side Flats are just up the street from Dallas police headquarters
(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)
Tomiya Melvin lives in a nearby apartment complex and found out about the shooting while she was walking her dog in the morning.
"It's terrible. I hope it's just a tragic accident and nothing more than that," said Melvin, who moved to Dallas from Chicago in June. "This area appealed to me because it always seemed so safe, and so far it has been.
"But I won't be leaving my door unlocked anymore; that's for sure."
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