Atatiana Jefferson’s family continues to deal with grief after she was shot to death by a White cop.
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Jefferson’s relatives, told the Dallas Morning News that her mother, Yolanda Carr, has died.
On the morning of Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, medical personnel were called to Carr’s home, where they found her. Merritt says that Carr had battled an undisclosed illness but also struggled with heartbreak over the deaths of Atatiana and her father, Marquis Jefferson.
Marquis Jefferson died of a heart attack in November 2019, one month after his daughter was killed.
On Thursday, Merritt shared the sad news of Carr’s death in an Instagram post, which included a 2007 photo of mother and daughter, and vowed to continue “the ongoing fight for justice” in her honor.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7G-fRFJebe/
On Saturday, Oct. 12, Aaron Dean, a former Forth Worth Police officer, shot and killed Jefferson around 2:30 a.m. while she was inside her home playing with her 12-year-old nephew in Fort Worth.
Police had responded to a nonemergency call. The caller was a neighbor who asked for someone to check on Jefferson’s safety. Bodycam footage revealed that Dean yelled for Jefferson to put her hands up before firing multiple gunshots into the home.
On Friday, Dec. 20, a Texas grand jury indicted Dean, 35, in the case involving Jefferson’s shooting death.
At the time, Merritt tweeted that Jefferson’s family was relieved Dean had been indicted but “remain cautious that a conviction and the appropriate sentence is still a long way away.”
Jefferson was killed only days after former Dallas cop Amber Guyger was given a light sentence for killing Botham Jean. Guyger shot an unarmed Jean after initially claiming that she thought she walked into her apartment and saw Jean inside. However, Guyger’s apartment was one floor below Jean’s.
