DALLAS, Tx. (KTHV/WFAA) - On Thursday evening, Sept. 6, a Dallas police officer was going home after her shift, when she walked into the wrong apartment and shot the man inside.
The victim has been identified as 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean.
Jean was a 2016 alumni of Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.
“I think every interaction he had, he was kind,” Logan Light, Harding University Director of Campus Life, said. “That comes from, I think, a daily personal decision and I think he would want to know that his impact on others was that of a kind impact.”
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According to police, the off-duty officer was in full uniform just after 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, she walked into an apartment unit she believed to be her own at the 1200 block of South Lamar, about a quarter-mile from the Dallas Police Department.
While inside, she pulled her firearm and shot Jean. He later died at the hospital from his injuries.
Dallas police Chief Renee Hall said Friday that a warrant for manslaughter was coming in the death of Jean. On Saturday, no warrant had been issued, and the case was being handled by the Texas Department of Public Safety's Texas Rangers.
According to the university, Botham frequently led worship for chapel and for campus events. In a service this morning, Harding University President Bruce McLarty shared some memories of Botham with students in chapel.
“He's just a phenomenal song leader, and he really knows how to really just bring people into it and make them feel the love of Jesus,” his friend Carson Gentry said.
Gentry met Jean through the Original Rock House campus ministry, where he served as an intern. Jean led Gentry and other students on several mission trips to his native St. Lucia.
“We really got to connect with the community and we really got to connect with him and the church and his parents,” Gentry said. “It was a really cool opportunity to be Christians together over in St. Lucia and spread the Gospel to the people in St. Lucia who don’t know Jesus,” he said.
Gentry described his friend as joyful, positive and as someone who would want to be remembered for his Christian faith.
“What I’ve been able to hold onto today is that I know I’ll get to see him again in heaven,” Gentry said. “That’s really exciting but at the same time it's hard.”
In a Facebook post, Earl, Jean's uncle posted a collage of pictures in remembrance of his nephew.
"How can this nasty world take you away from me...this is the worst day of my life thus far...uncle loves you so much," he wrote.
Friends of Jean's have taken to social media leaving their thoughts, prayers and well wishes for friends and family of the young man.
On Reddit, user zachwilson23 said they met Jean while attending Harding University and described Jean as a "kind and genuine guy."
"[He] led songs service at a number of local churches throughout the college town where we went to school," the user said. "Tragic that his life came to an end in this way."
A vigil was organized for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7 by Mothers Against Police Brutality outside Dallas Police Headquarters.
Sub T-16, a Harding University social club, of Jean set up a GoFundMe, asking for donations to help cover funeral arrangements, his family's travel expenses and anything else they may encounter. If you would like to donate, click here.
According to Dallas police Chief Renee Hall, the officer who shot and killed Jean will soon be charged.