A message has clearly been sent.
Joshua Brown, a key witness who testified for the prosecution on Tuesday in the trial of killer cop Amber Guyger, was fatally shot outside of his apartment building in Dallas on Friday night.
The neighbor of Botham Jean, who was murdered by Guyger, Brown’s body was found on the ground, his body riddled with bullets, the Dallas Morning News reported.
He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
According to civil rights attorney S. Lee Merritt, Esq., who is representing the Jean family, Brown’s immediate family said he was shot in his mouth and chest after Merritt was told the young man was shot in his back.
“We will have to await the autopsy to be sure,” he wrote on Twitter Saturday night.
On Facebook, Merritt wrote that Brown’s execution “underscores the reality of the black experience in America.”
“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.”
Witnesses reportedly told police they heard several gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding away from the parking lot.
Brown 28, testified last week about the night of Sept. 6, 2018, when Amber Guyger, a white Dallas Police officer, entered Jean’s apartment, allegedly thinking it was hers and shot him dead, believing the black certified public account was an intruder.
The diverse jury, mostly made of women and people of color, found Guyger— who has a history of making racist remarks on social media—guilty and then sentenced her to 10 years in prison for the murder. She will be up for parole in five years.
Ponder that.
Brown was a former athlete turned entrepreneur, according to Merritt, who is working closely with his family in seeking justice.
On Saturday, the lead prosecutor in the Guyger case, Jason Hermus, applauded Brown’s decision to come forward.
“He bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn’t, ” he told the Morning News. “If we had more people like him, we would have a better world.”
Dallas police say there is no suspect information available at this time.