Key Witness In Amber Guyger Trial Shot, Killed At Dallas Apartment Complex

Joshua Brown, a key witness in ex-Officer Amber Guyger’s murder trial, was shot and killed at his apartment complex in Dallas Friday, police said on Sunday.

Brown’s death came just ten days after Guyger, a 31-year-old former Dallas Police Department officer, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty for killing her 26-year-old unarmed neighbor, Botham Shem Jean, in his own apartment while she was off duty in September 2018.

The Dallas Police Department said officers found Brown “lying on the ground in the apartment parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds to his lower body” in a Sunday press release.

Attorney S. Lee Merritt, who represents Botham Jean’s family, said in a Saturday Facebook post that Brown, 29, “was ambushed at his apartment complex as he got out of his car and [was] shot at close range.”

Brown lived in the same apartment complex as Guyger when she shot Jean and provided testimony to the jury immediately after Jean was killed. He was then shot in his most recent apartment complex about five miles from the one in which Jean was shot, according to CNN.

The Dallas Police Department said officers found Brown “lying on the ground in the apartment parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds to his lower body.”

Authorities have not yet determined whether Brown’s involvement in Guyger’s trial and his murder are related, CNN reported.

Merrit, in his Saturday Facebook post about Brown’s death, said that “by testifying that he could hear Botham singing in his apartment he undermines a key element of the defense. Amber claimed she shouted commands to Botham before shooting him. She didn’t. No one heard that. No neighbors. No passerby’s. Not Joshua as he walked down the corridor. No one.”

Merrit added in another Facebook post that Brown lived in “constant fear” of gun violence. (RELATED: Botham Jean’s Brother Hugs Amber Guyger After She Is Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Murder)

It took a Dallas jury less than 24 hours to decide Guyger’s fate based on the definition of manslaughter and the castle doctrine — which asserts a person can reasonably use deadly force to protect himself or herself at home — CNN reported Oct. 1

Guyger’s trial made headlines last week when Jean’s brother Brandt Jean, 18, took the stand and told the former Dallas Police Department officer, “I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you, because I know that’s exactly what Botham would want,” adding, “I love you like anyone else,” before embracing her in a hug, The Dallas Morning News reported.