Witness and Neighbor of Man Killed by Amber Guyger Shot to Death | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This informational nugget was sent to me by Ben Shapiro, who represents the Daily Wire, and since this is one of the most topical news events, it should be published on BCN.

The author of this post is Amanda Prestigiacomo.


    A key witness in the murder trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyer was shot dead on Friday.

    According to Dallas News, 28-year-old Joshua Brown was shot in the back and thigh at an apartment complex near Dallas' Medical District.

    "Several witnesses flagged down police and directed them to Brown's location," the report said. "Police found him on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds."

    Brown died from his injuries at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

    After gunshots were heard, a silver four-door sedan was seen speeding out of the parking lot, according to witnesses, the report noted. The suspect remains at large and their identity is unknown.

    Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for the murder of Botham Jean.

    The former officer said she parked on the wrong floor and entered the wrong apartment after a long shift; she shot Jean while mistaking him for an intruder, believing she was in her apartment.

    Brown, who lives in the apartment across from Jean, testified during the high-profile trial.

    On the night of the incident, Brown recalled hearing what he said sounded like "two people meeting by surprise." As noted by Dallas News, "He testified that he couldn't make out what they were saying and they were speaking at the same time. And then he heard two gunshots."

    Brown said he only briefly met Mr. Jean one time, though he often heard him singing gospel music and songs from artist Drake.

    Civil right attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the Jean family, said on Facebook that Brown is a "former athlete turned entrepreneur" and noted that his slaying "underscores the reality of the black experience in America," Dallas News reported.

    According to his testimony, after graduating from college, Brown continued to train for football and ended up obtaining a job as a roofing contractor. His current job, he said on the stand, was managing airbnb properties.

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    Brown had two known run-ins with the law. He was convicted of misdemeanor theft in 2011 and caught a possession of a controlled substance conviction in 2016.

    "Brown lived in constant fear that he could be the next victim of gun violence," Mr. Merritt said via Facebook. "Brown deserves the same justice he sought to ensure the Jean family."

    On Friday, the attorney claimed Brown's mother "suspects foul play" with regard to her son's murder.

    "Joshua Brown was shot in his mouth & chest," wrote Merritt, who later said he has received "conflicting" information on where Brown was shot. "He was exiting his car at his apt when he was ambushed & shot at close range. His mother asked my office to help find out who murdered her son. She suspects foul play. He had no known enemies. He worked for a living. We need answers."



    On Sunday, Merritt published a lengthy Facebook post about the challenges of the black community, noting that "we seem to have only mastered fighting each other."

    "We are under constant attack as a community but we seem to have only mastered fighting each other. I don't know who killed Joshua Brown. He was a truly genuine soul that was loved deeply by his family and friends and I will work to get to the bottom of his murder," he wrote.

    "In the meantime I've watched a pattern emerge. It goes like this: 'they' attack our community; we respond by attacking each other," said Merritt.

    "Take the Amber Guyger trial for example," he continued. "It revealed corruption at every level in the city of Dallas. Amber Guyger's partner Martin Rivera openly admitted destroying evidence, violating departmental policy, committing perjury. He has faced little to no blow back. He is still a Dallas Police Officer till this day. The Dallas Police Association president Mike Matta showed up to Botham's apartment the night he was murdered and interjected himself into that investigation, actively conspiring to protect Amber Guyger. He instructed she be taken out of custody, that body cam and dash cam videos be halted and began crafting a narrative to get her off... on camera!"

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    "The DOJ needs to be auditing the entire department," Merritt wrote. "We should be hounding the mayor and police chief non stop to clean house. We are not though. The vast majority of our bandwidth has been directed at telling an 18 year old how to properly grieve."

    As reported by The Daily Wire's Ashe Schow, Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata arrived on the scene the night of the incident: "[F]ootage showed Mata leaning into the patrol car and then telling another officer to turn off the car's recording devices while Guyger was speaking to her attorney over the phone. This is what prosecutors and a civil rights group appear to be claiming is a cover up and some kind of conspiracy to alter Guyger's account of what occurred in the apartment."

    "Despite making claims to the contrary, prosecutor Jason Hermus knew that Mike Mata was responding in his capacity as President of the Dallas Police Association to the scene of an officer involved shooting. In his role as DPA President, he had a legal responsibility to request recording devices in a squad car be turned off as Officer Amber Guyger was going to talk to her attorney on her cell phone," Steve Stribley, president of the Texas Fraternal Order of Police, defended Mata. "Even a first-year law student knows that her conversation was protected under attorney-client privilege and any effort to record such confidential communication would be illegal."

    Merritt also commented on Judge Tammy Kemp, a black female, who had a complaint filed against her by an atheist activist group for speaking to Guyger about Christian redemption and giving the woman her personal bible.

    "The black female judge that prevented the Texas Rangers from tanking this case with their biased conclusions is currently being destroyed socially and under formal review professionally because she had a human moment after the case was completely over," he wrote. "Why are we so anxious to attack black women while ignoring glaring injustices?"

    "I've read articles condemning my office's financial interest in this case. Our community has joined in, reaffirming the greedy black lawyer caricature that white supremacist use to denounce justice efforts. Now Joshua Brown is dead and instead of coming together- trolls have gone so far as to say his blood is on my hands personally. We have real enemies. We have real work to do. We have to stop this self destructive tendency to implode and fight each other. Let's bring the fight to them. It will require something rare: UNITY," Merritt ended the post, adding an #ItsOnUS hashtag.
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