Fort Worth protesters demand justice for Atatiana Jefferson

FORT WORTH, Texas - Protesters took to the streets of downtown Fort Worth on Tuesday demanding justice for Atatiana Jefferson, who was killed in her home last weekend by a police officer who shot through her window.

Carrying signs with messages such as "Stop Killing Our Children" and "There is blood on FWPD's hands," about a dozen protesters marched from the old Tarrant County Courthouse to Fort Worth City Hall.

About 16 Fort Worth police officers, many of them on bicycles, stopped afternoon traffic at downtown intersections so the small group of protesters could pass. Several marchers said they intended to address Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday, and that they expected to be joined by many other protesters at the council meeting.

"Atatiana! No justice! No peace!" the crowd chanted in unison.

Some of the marchers were from a Fort Worth group known as United My Justice, whose members have been vocal critics of recent police actions in the black community. Many members say the police lack adequate training to know how to diffuse situations without firing a weapon.

The president of that group, Donnell Ballard, said the members would continue to disrupt public events until Fort Worth police were held accountable for Jefferson's death, as well as at least six other recent police shootings.

"It's time for the community and businesses to take us seriously," Ballard said before the march began. "If we have to, we will interrupt events - Veterans Day parades, Christmas parades."

Others joining in the march belonged to a Grand Prairie-based youth advocacy group known as Community Step Up. Many marchers said they objected to the fact that the officer charged with murder in Jefferson's death, Aaron Dean, was able to bail out of jail.

Dean, who resigned from the police department just before his arrest on the murder charge Monday, was released on $200,000 bond. He is accused of shooting Jefferson through a window in her home, after a neighbor called a non-emergency police number to report that a door to Jefferson's home was ajar.

Dean was among several officers sent to Jefferson's home for a welfare check.

Video footage from his body camera appears to show Dean yelling for Jefferson to show him her hands, but not identifying himself as a police officer, before immediately firing a shot at her.

"The bond is too low! He's already out! Lock him back up!" the group chanted in front of City Hall.

Karan Love, an Arlington resident and member of Community Step Up, said of the protest: "This is not just a black fight anymore."

"The whole community is tired," Love said.

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