Aaron Dean is a 35-year-old Fort Worth Police officer who shot into Atatiana Jefferson’s bedroom, striking and killing her after responding to a welfare check request in the early morning on October 12th, 2019.

The Fort Worth Police Department released his name during a press conference on Monday, October 15th, noting that he had resigned but would still be facing possible charges.

Aaron Dean Age
Arron Dean was 35 years old when he shot Atatiana and got discharged from the force.
Dean is a native of Arlington, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a physics degree in 2011.

Aaron Dean Family
As per his Facebook posts, he comes from a large family with five siblings. It is not clear whether he is married or not.
Aaron Dean graduated from the Fort Worth Police Academy with the Class of 145. His graduation is in the video above around the 55-minute mark.

His name was released by Police Chief Ed Kraus during a press conference on Monday, October 14th. Dean had one traffic accident on his record and nothing else, Kraus said. He added that he did not believe Dean had been with any other agency before joining the Fort Worth Police Department.

In the press release, Kraus said that Dean had turned in his resignation that morning before he could interview Dean. Kraus said was going to fire him anyway if he had not.

“Had the officer not resigned I would have fired him for violations of several policies, including our use of force policy, our de-escalation policy, and unprofessional conduct,” Kraus said during the press conference.
Dean had not been cooperative with the investigation, Kraus told the media.

“He resigned before his opportunity to cooperate,” Kraus said.
The Fort Worth Police said that despite his resigning, his record and separation paperwork will reflect that he was dishonorably discharged.

Kraus said that because Dean had resigned, he no longer had the protection of state civil service law, so he could now release his name publicly. On Sunday, Dean was stripped of his badge and firearm, Kraus said.

As per a call log released by police, the non-emergency call that led to officers being sent to Jefferson’s house was made at 2:24 a.m. on October 12th.

Dean was dispatched along with another officer, identified in the call log as Officer Carol Darch. She arrived first, at 2:28 a.m., and Dean arrived on the scene at 2:29 a.m. Jefferson was shot just after 2:30 a.m. Several other officers were then dispatched to the scene, the call log shows.
It is not clear if Darch is cooperating with the investigation or whether she could face criminal charges or departmental sanctions. A document on the Fort Worth city website shows that Darch has been an officer since 2017.

Atatiana Jefferson Shooting Video
Bodycam footage and the medical examiner’s report show that Jefferson was shot through her bedroom window.
In the video, the officer started yelling “Put your hands up. Show me your hands!” The officer quickly shot through the window. Bodycam footage seems to indicate he shot within a second or so of saying “Put your hands up.”

Aaron Dean deleted his Facebook page immediately his name was released. The Facebook page was under the name AE Dean and was mostly scrubbed except for a few public posts.
The page listed April 13th, 2018 as the day that this Dean started a new job with the Fort Worth Police Department, and on April 21st, 2018 he posted a photo of his graduating class.

The graduation video shared by the Fort Worth Police Department does not have anyone else with the last name of Dean graduating on that day.

One of the posts on the page is a selfie taken in May 2018 that reads: “Rookie life… waiting on the ME.” (ME is short for Medical Examiner.)

When asked about Dean having time to wipe his social media or if steps had been taken to preserve his social media, Kraus said that he did not have the answer to that question at this time.

People had started taking to his Facebook page leaving photos of Jefferson and comments. The last public post on that page was the selfie while waiting on the ME posted in May 2018. It’s not known if this page was scrubbed or always just had a few posts on it.
Aaron Dean will still face criminal charges despite resigning, Kraus said during the press conference. A preliminary case has also been presented to the FBI as a possible civil rights violation.

Kraus said he reached out to the Texas Rangers about taking over the investigation, but they have not committed because they were brought in so late. “We take these incidents seriously,” Kraus said during the press conference.
Combined Law Enforcement Assocations of Texas (CLEAT), the largest law enforcement officers’ union in Texas, will be providing an attorney for Dean.

Atatiana Jefferson Shooting
The Fort Worth Police Department said they were responding to a welfare request in Fort Worth, Texas around 2 a.m. on October 12th after a neighbor was concerned that they were concerned because the door was open for a long time that night, which was unusual.

Police later confirmed that Jefferson’s eight-year-old nephew was in the home with her when the shooting occurred.
In a Twitter post captioned below, Attorney Lee Merritt wrote: “The resignation of Aaron Dean from the @fortworthpd is a slap in the face to the family of Atatiana Jefferson."

"He should have been fired the night he murdered Atatiana. Being allowed to resign instead of being arrested for his criminal misconduct provides no solace to this family.” Dean has not been arrested and family members and their attorney are asking why.