A key witness in Amber Guyger’s murder trial was shot and killed Friday evening at an apartment complex near Dallas’ Medical District, authorities said.
Joshua Brown was a neighbor of Botham Jean’s and Guyger at the South Side Flats apartments. He was killed about 10:30 p.m. on Friday evening. Brown, 28, lived across the hall from Jean and testified about the night he was killed.
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Dallas County prosecutor Jason Hermus, the lead prosecutor in the Guyger case, said on Saturday that Brown stood up at a time when others refused to say what they knew. Hermus said:
“He bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn’t. If we had more people like him, we would have a better world.”2
Several witnesses flagged down police on Friday night and led them to Brown’s location. Police found him on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Witnesses told police they heard numerous gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding out of the parking lot. No suspect description had been released.
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On the night of Sept. 6, 2018, Brown was in the hallway on the fourth floor of the Cedars apartment building, where he and Jean lived when he heard what he thought sounded like “two people meeting by surprise.”2
He testified that he couldn’t make out what they were saying, and they were both speaking at the same time. He then heard two gunshots.
On Tuesday, Guyger, who was off-duty but in uniform when she shot Jean, was convicted of murder. The jury sentenced her to 10 years in prison on Wednesday.
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Brown testified that he had met Jean for the first time on the day he was killed. They had just a brief conversation in the hallway. But, Brown said, he did hear Jean from time to time. He wept on the stand while recounting hearing his neighbor’s voice through the door, adding:
“I heard him singing. Gospel music. Drake.”2
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the Jean family, called Brown a “former athlete turned entrepreneur”2 whose slaying “underscores the reality of the black experience in America.”2 Merritt wrote on Facebook:
“Brown lived in constant fear that he could be the next victim of gun violence. Brown deserves the same justice he sought to ensure the Jean family.”2
