Zion Carr was 8 years old in 2019 when his aunt, Atatiana Jefferson was shot to death by a police officer in her Fort Worth home in Texas.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the police officer, Aaron Dean shot and killed Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman, on October 12, 2019, while Carr was watching.
The killing by Dean, a White police officer in Fort Worth, sparked outrage and accusations of misconduct and racial profiling.
In 2022, Dean was eventually convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to over 10 years in prison for the death of Carr’s aunt.
Carr has now been awarded USD3.5 million, equivalent to N2.7 billion, over the death of Jefferson.
According to the Associated Press, the Fort Worth City Council approved the whopping settlement.
The settlement will cover Carr’s living expenses and current needs. Some of the money will be allocated to a college savings fund for the preteen.
In court, the now 11-year-old testified to how he saw the police fatally shoot his aunt through a window.
Carr told the court that he was in the bedroom playing video games with his “Aunt Tay” just before she was shot.
He claimed that he had accidentally burned hamburgers earlier in the night, so they opened up the door to let some fresh air in the house.
As they were playing video games, Jefferson became suspicious after she heard noise stirring outside.
According to his testimony, Jefferson went to her purse to grab her gun, but he did not see her raise her firearm toward the window.
Zion said he did not hear or see anything outside, but he instantly knew something was wrong when he saw his aunt fall to the ground and start crying.
On the night of the shooting, Dean and one other officer travelled to Jefferson’s home to respond to a neighbour who reported that her doors were open in the middle of the night.
The neighbour reportedly called a non-emergency police number to request a safety check at the house.
During his testimony, Dean claimed that he opened fire because he saw a silhouette of Jefferson with a gun in the window.
Body camera footage showed that neither Dean nor the other officer identified themselves as police before the shooting took place.
Zion’s $3.5 million settlement comes after the death of his mother, Amber Carr, who passed away from congestive heart failure in January.
