By NAN Contributor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Sept. 13, 2018: The family for Botham Shem Jean, the 26-year-old St. Lucian immigrant shot to death in his own apartment by a White Dallas Police Officer last Thursday night, September 6th, is getting ready to say a final adieu today even as they continue to await answers on his killing.
A funeral service for Jean will be held today, Thursday September 13th, from noon at the Greenville Avenue Church of Christ in Richardson Texas. A viewing begins before from 10 a.m.
This as Price Waterhouse Cooper, where Jean worked as a risk assurance associate, said the company will hold a moment of silence on Sept. 13th, coinciding with his funeral.
The PwC Foundation has also made a contribution toward the cost of Jean’s funeral service, and the firm will make a $50,000 contribution to a scholarship fund that Jean’s family established in his honor, Bloomberg reported.
PwC also started the hashtag #BeLikeBo for people to share their memories of Jean.
In addition, PwC also set up its own scholarship for minority students majoring in accounting at Harding University, Jean’s alma mater, and pledged to make another $50,000 donation to that fund.
Jean’s funeral comes as conflicting details on his death continue to emerge and as his family as well as community leaders and even the Prime Minister of St. Lucia have all called for justice on his behalf.
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet stood alongside the Jean family in Dallas on Monday and expressed the hope that the Dallas, Texas justice system will take the right course.
RELATED: Here’s What The St. Lucia Prime Minister Is Saying On The Dallas Police Killing Of Botham Shem Jean
This as Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, said she is still waiting on the answer to the question – what really happened?
Police Officer Amber Guyger, the four-year department veteran who shot and killed Jean, is out on bail and remains on administrative leave, charged with manslaughter.
On CBS Evening News, Mrs. Jean urged the officer to “come clean.”
This as Lee Merritt, a family attorney for the Jeans said that neighbors of Botham Jean disputed Officer Guyger’s account of the incident.
“They heard knocking down the hallway followed by a woman’s voice that they believe to be officer Guyger saying, ‘Let me in. Let me in,’” Lee Merritt said. “One of the neighbors then heard gunshots and a man’s voice. He said what we believe to be the last words of Botham Jean which was ‘Oh my god, why did you do that?’”
That account of the incident differs from what Guyger has said. She claims she mistakenly thought Jean’s apartment was hers, saw the door ajar and opened fire after a dark silhouette did not respond to “verbal commands.
Miles away, in New York, the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy, (CGID), says they want that manslaughter charge upped to murder.
RELATED: Caribbean American Organization Wants Dallas Police Officer Who Killed St. Lucian Charged With Murder
A grand jury will decide the final charges against the officer and could consider charges such as murder, a first-degree felony, or the lesser charge of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, according to the Dallas District Attorney.
