The nephew of Atatiana Jefferson—the Texas woman gunned down through her bedroom window by a cop in 2019—testified in court Monday that the doors to his aunt’s home were open because they were trying to get smoke out after cooking hamburgers. It’s the first explanation to arise as to why Jefferson’s doors and windows were open the night of her slaying. The tragic incident began when a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to have an officer check of her house because a door was open late at night. The cop who responded to that call, Aaron Dean, arrived at Jefferson’s home without announcing himself as an officer, sparking an ordeal that ended with Jefferson shot dead and Dean charged with her murder. After a slew of delays, Dean’s murder trial began Monday, reportedly without a single Black juror selected. Jefferson’s nephew, 11-year-old Zion Carr, said Monday he remembers thinking the tragic incident was a dream when he saw his aunt “crying and shaking” on the ground.
