The mother of Zion Carr, a young boy who witnessed a Fort Worth, Texas police officer fatally shoot his aunt, Atatiana Jefferson, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the ex-officer, the city, and the former police chief and mayor.
According to Dallas News, the lawsuit said Carr “suffered extreme and severe mental and emotional distress, anxiety, terror and agony” after seeing his aunt die.
Police also questioned Carr, who is underaged, without parental consent, according to the lawsuit.
“At the age of 8, Z.C. was forced to watch the murder of his aunt, Atatiana Jefferson, at the hands of Fort Worth police,” the lawsuit says.
“Our position is that by shooting and killing his aunt in front of him, and by firing a bullet into the house that he was inside, they did commit an assault against him,” said attorney David Henderson of the law firm Ellwanger Law LLLP.
“For Zion, they threatened him with gunfire when they killed Atatiana and then … they wrongfully seized him, and they wrongfully questioned him without letting his family know where he was, or without having an adult presence,” Henderson added.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for medical bills, emotional distress, and anguish due to Carr’s trauma but doesn’t specify any amount of money. The suit also asks for “supervisory discipline up to and including termination for any employee or agent of the city of Fort Worth who engages in actions violating the Fourth Amendment.”
On October 12, 2019, Jefferson played video games with Zion when she heard strange noises outside.
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Police showed up at Jefferson’s home where she was staying with her sick mom after a neighbor called to report that the front door was open.
Bodycam footage recovered from the night showed when officer Aaron Dean’s body was seen walking towards the back of the house, then turning toward a window, yelling at Jefferson to raise her hands and shooting her through the window.
Zion told police that his aunt pulled out a handgun from her purse, pointed it toward the window, and then was shot.
Dean quit the department and two days later was arrested on a murder charge and is currently awaiting trial.
