DALLAS — Joshua Brown, a key witness in the trial of Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer found guilty of shooting Botham Jean, was fatally shot Friday outside of an apartment complex, investigators said.
Brown, 28, who lived across the hall from Jean, was shot around 10:30 p.m. outside of the South Side Flats apartments, the Dallas Morning News reported.
"He bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn't, " Dallas County prosecutor Jason Hermus told the Dallas Morning News. "If we had more people like him, we would have a better world."
Witnesses told investigators they heard shots, then a silver sedan speed out of the parking lot. A suspect description is not available.
Update 1:05 p.m. EDT Oct. 6: Brown, who was from Lancaster, Texas, and attended high school there, was a defensive back for the University of South Florida football team in 2012, according to the school's football roster website.
According to his biography, Brown was born in Pensacola, Florida, and also lived in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach and Lancaster. The bio said Brown had four sisters and three brothers, WFLA reported.
Brown majored in interdisciplinary social science, the television station reported.
Oriiginal report: Brown testified about what he heard Sept. 6, 2019, the night Jean was killed.
He said had met Jean for the first time earlier the day he was killed. Brown said that night it sounded like two people meeting by surprise. He could not hear what was said but that they both were talking at the same time and then he heard gunshots.
Guyger was convicted Tuesday of murder. She was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.
"A former athlete turned entrepreneur— Brown lived in constant fear that he could be the next victim of gun violence, either state sanctioned or otherwise," Lee Merritt, an attorney who represented the Jean family, wrote on social media. "Brown deserves the same justice he sought to ensure the Jean family."
Joshua Brown, the next door neighbor of #BothamJean was killed last night after being shot several times by an unknown...
Posted by Lee Merritt on Saturday, October 5, 2019
Presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke expressed condolences to Brown's family, called for an end to gun violence and for the shooter to be found.
"(Brown's) death, like Botham's, was a tragedy—only possible because we have failed to end this epidemic of gun violence. Sending love to his family," O'Rourke said on social media. "There will never be justice, but there must be an investigation to find the truth—and hold his murderer accountable."
When Botham Jean was killed in his own home, his neighbor, Joshua Brown, spoke out and ensured his murderer was held accountable. His death, like Botham’s, was a tragedy—only possible because we have failed to end this epidemic of gun violence. Sending love to his family. https://t.co/PyrGDyJGe4
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 6, 2019
Where #JoshuaBrown was shot seems to be disputed. I was told by immediate family that the ME said mouth and chest. Initially I was told in the back. I just heard from a witness who provided aide to a wound in the buttocks and side. We will have to await the autopsy to be sure. pic.twitter.com/xjqxQ8QanF
— S. Lee Merritt, Esq. (@MeritLaw) October 6, 2019
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