Witness in ex-Dallas officer's murder trial shot and killed

DALLAS (WGN) -- A witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor has been killed in a shooting, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing authorities.

The newspaper reported that authorities said Joshua Brown, who lived in the same apartment complex as Amber Guyger and Botham Jean, was shot and killed Friday in Dallas. Guyger was still in her police uniform after a long shift when, according to her trial testimony, she mistook Jean's apartment for her own one floor below and shot him after pushing open his unlocked door and thinking he was a burglar.

Brown, 28, testified in Guyger's trial about the September 2018 night that Jean was killed, saying he was in a hallway on the fourth floor, where he and Jean lived. He said he heard what sounded like “two people meeting by surprise” and then two gunshots.

Brown, who became emotional at times and used his T-shirt and tissue to wipe his tears, said he had met Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, for the first time earlier that day.

Guyger, 31, was fired from the department soon after the shooting. She was convicted Tuesday and sentenced the next day to 10 years in prison.

The newspaper did not cite authorities by name for confirmation of Brown's death. A Dallas police spokesman on Saturday would not confirm to The Associated Press that it was Brown who was shot Friday. He said the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office would determine the identification Sunday.