Good morning. Thank you very
much for joining us again today.
Today, Chief Krause is going
to provide some updates on the
cases as it has progressed.
At the end of his statement,
he'll take four or five statements
and anything else would come
through the media portal for
the rest of the day. Thank you.
Good morning and thank you for being here.
We'd like to update you on the progress
of the criminal investigation.
First, I realized that no action we
take can replace the loss suffered here.
I'm deeply sorry for what occurred.
I've received so many contacts
from our officers, we want to
express how sorry they are as well.
And how this is not indicative
of the work they do every day.
Human life is a precious thing and should
not have been taken from Miss Jefferson.
This incident has eroded the trust
that we have built with our community.
And we must now work even harder
to ensure that trust is restored.
Concerning the status of
the criminal investigation,
at approximately 6:00 PM yesterday,
Aaron Dean was arrested for
the murder of Miss Jefferson.
We obtained an arrest warrant
after enough evidence and facts
were analyzed and verified.
A team of officers quickly affected his
arrest at the office of his of his attorney.
He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail,
where his bond was set by
the presiding magistrate.
He has since posted bond.
We're continuing to work closely
with the Tarrant County criminal
District Attorney's Office to
ensure this entire investigation
is prosecuted in a thorough,
meticulous and solid manner.
To the citizens and the residents
of our city. We understand your
frustration and disappointment.
I too am frustrated and disappointed by
what occurred and the officer's actions.
We never won an officers response to
a call to ending the loss of life.
We have a great many officers who
work extremely hard every day and
they do this at great sacrifice.
And with the servants heart.
Ask you to please do not let the
actions of one officers reflect.
On the other 1700.
There's absolutely no
excuse for this incident.
And the person responsible
will be held accountable.
Mr Jefferson's family and our
community will have the last word.
And the courts will speak on her behalf.
Each and everyone of you have our support
and our commitment to serve you better.
We strive to be better everyday
than we were the day before.
My prayer for Tatianna's family,
our community, and our department
comes from chapter numbers,
Chapter 6, verses 24 and 26.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord's face shine upon
you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
Take some questions,
chief. The Jefferson family says that
they want reforms and what they see
is a brutal police culture. Chief,
what needs to change in the forward?
As a as the city manager alluded to
yesterday, we're looking at bringing
in an independent third party group
to come in and evaluate our policies,
our practices and our training to ensure
that we are above best practice standards.
I cannot tell you what. What he felt
he did not give a statement
to our investigators.
The gun was found just inside the room,
but it makes sense that she would have a gun
if she felt that she was being threatened
or there or someone in the backyard.
Department exactly arrested Mr they were.
They were. They were Fort Worth officers
and I was not made aware that there was any,
any type of struggle or anything like that.
Like I said on why, if they were
responding to a welfare check,
why did they park around
the corner from the house?
And also why did they not ring
the doorbell or knock on the door?
But they believe they were
responding to an open structure
call and not just a welfare check
check my question to that
because you you've made.
You said that yesterday.
Determined. If this neighbor
called and said the doors open,
obviously we determine.
OK, this is an open structure
called versus a welfare check
because as you said yesterday,
those are two different types of
responses by the officer who determine.
So the information came from
the neighbor to the call takers
and then while it was relayed to
the dispatch, it. It was determined
to be an open structure call.
I don't know if it, I can't
tell you specifically if it was a dispatcher,
but that's something we're looking
into. Well Chief, we heard the
call from the neighbor and
then from dispatch to correct.
What is procedure for officers
on an open structure?
Is it to go on to the property and
look in Windows is an open structure.
Do you think common sense
would be to knock on a door?
Well, it depends on what the
officers believed at the time.
If they think they the structure
is open due to somebody breaking
in or or something like that,
that would elicit one response.
If they if they think it's just
somebody left their door open,
that would elicit a separate response.
Fastest and officers and prosecutors.
He has not been prosecuted
yet. He has simply been arrested.
There's still a long, long haul
ahead of us, to my knowledge, yes.
How tall is this taken on the route?
Throughout the department got
officers were still having to
be out and responding to calls
and this has to take the toll.
What steps? Actual steps?
Taken to deal with
that. So the morale, the morale pieces.
I don't have any officers saying this
action should not have been taken
against this individual, this officer.
I'm getting the complete opposite response.
Chief, thank you for
being quick and decisive.
This is going to help heal us.
And the officers are hurting.
I've I've been out there on patrol
and since this occurred and.
It's the officer they come
up and hug and and.
It's very emotional because the officers,
they try hard every day to
try to make this city better.
I likened it yesterday to some of our
officers that are out there every
weekend and and most weeknights
that that they're out there trying
to build these relationships.
And I likened it to a bunch of
ants building an Ant hill and then
somebody comes with a hose and
washes it away and they just have
to start from scratch and build up.
I think that's going to be all.
Thank you.
Also in addition, we've got we're
going to be posting the arrest
warrant to the media portal.
So here in about 30 minutes it'll be
available on the media portal to you.
Number of questions as far today.
Thank you very much for being here.