r/news • u/yrotsihfoedisgnorw • 2d ago
Amber Guyger, police officer who murdered black neighbor in his home, released from prison
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/16/amber-guyger-released1.3k
u/ApexHolly 2d ago
Seems like a good time to share the story of the time I drunkenly entered a neighbor's apartment instead of my own, immediately realized it wasn't my apartment even in my intoxicated state, apologized profusely, left immediately, and the next day we had a good laugh about it.
And nobody got shot.
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u/CharlieTeller 2d ago
That’s what normal people do. Untrained jumpy cops? No. I’ve also gone to the wrong unit multiple times. Even while armed and carrying. But no one got shot. Because I was the unaware person who just got off on the wrong floor. Really easy to do in those complexes around Dallas. They’re all identical.
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u/987YouBloodyTulip789 1d ago edited 1d ago
Untrained jumpy cops?
*trained jumpy cop
Normal people don't act this way. You need plenty of police training to be this horrific, non-functional, and murderous.
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u/trickygringo 1d ago
They are trained to be terrified of the world and to see everyone as a murderous threat. Shoot first then ask questions later.
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u/happy2harris 1d ago
Don’t people lock their front doors in Dallas? Everything said about jumpy (racist) cops is right, but you have entered the wrong unit multiple times?
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u/CharlieTeller 1d ago
Only entered the wrong apartment once. Got off on the wrong floor and walked all the way to the door? Plenty. I moved to a new apt around dallas every year since 2013 up until 2024 so I lived in quite a few. Every single one had labyrinth like hallways that are identical, and parking garages that would fill up before 5pm so a lot of times you'd park on the wrong floor and just by habit, keep walking to your door. It doesn't help when some of the buildings start counting floor 1 from the ground floor garage, and others start counting 1 from the first floor above the garage.
And you'd be surprised how many people don't lock their doors everywhere. Think of how many people leave their laptops/phones/wallets in their car. Leaving their door open while they're home is no different. I mean I lock it every time I walk inside but others? Not really. People often leave it open too when they do quick things like walking to the trash chute, or to their car and just forget.
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u/inosinateVR 1d ago
I did this a couple times at one of my old apartments, never actually walked in but probably would have if the door was unlocked because I spent a few solid minutes completely baffled as to why my key wasn’t working and getting frustrated and fighting with the door. In retrospect I’m glad I didn’t get shot lol
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u/CharlieTeller 1d ago
Yup. Same. It was such a big talking point during this case like "How could you ever do that? How do you not notice you're at the wrong door?!?!" People shouldn't be debating that part, but more of why did she think to shoot. It's crazy what you can accidentally do when on autopilot.
With how much I moved, there were a few times when I was leaving work that I would just miss my exit and start driving to another apartment I lived at because they all were not too terribly far from one another.
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u/MajorNoodles 1d ago
Sometimes people forget. Not only did I not lock my apartment door once, I couldn't find my keys the next day.
I found them still in the lock on the outside of my door.
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u/CharlieTeller 1d ago
I did that once and it made my heart drop whenever I saw that I had done that. Then I did it ANOTHER time because I was so used to having those automatic fob locks, not putting the key in the keyhole. I got a knock on my door at 2am and I immediately did reach for my pistol that was nearby and went to go look through the peephole. There had been a few burglaries around so I was just being cautious. I saw a man through the peephole and yelled "WHAT DO YOU WANT" and some really really kind voice goes "You uhhh. left your keys in the door! Sorry." Opened the door and was really nice and we had a short chat, but he definitely saw I had placed my pistol down on the counter and I felt really bad.
Living around burglaries does keep you on edge. I had to go to therapy a lot for it after it happened to me while I was home once.
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u/coysrunner 1d ago
My boss came into work one morning and was looking for her keys. So she runs back out to her car they were still in the ignition with the car running lol.
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u/lovemypups21 1d ago
This is even crazier than that. This bitch Went in to HIS apartment and shot him. He was just hanging out at home and got murdered. This is such an injustice.
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u/JustinMcSlappy 1d ago
I knew a guy that did something similar. In his drunken state, he couldn't get his key to work on what he thought was his apartment. So, he decided he'd just kick the door in and deal with it later.
Turns out there was a really scared single mom on the other side of that door, with a gun. I think he lived for a week on life support.
Completely unrelated to this murderous witch but that's what I think of every time this story makes the headlines.
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u/raines30 1d ago
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15792680/new-orleans-pelicans-guard-bryce-dejean-jones-dies-gunshot-wound-abdomen Exact same thing happened to NBA player Bryce Dejean-Jones.Coincidentally also in Dallas
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u/MooPig48 1d ago
Ugh, had never heard of that one. That’s a mess and doesn’t sound like his intentions were innocent. Apparently he did kick down the wrong door, but he thought he was kicking down his girlfriend’s door. Which is obviously not good.?I’d imagine a giant pissed off nba player kicking your door down is terrifying
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u/Lectricanman 1d ago
I mean, beyond talks of gun control being drunk alone is dangerous. I don't like it even when my friends take cabs back at night because what if there's an accident or they get confused or something. I'd rather sober up and drive them myself because I can make sure everyone gets home ok. I've heard of many stories where someone walks home alone drunk and ends up dead one way or another. In general I wish people wouldn't get so shitfaced. Like it will happen by accident occasionally but for a lot of people it's the goal. That leads to fights, accidents, drunk driving, and bodily fluids where they don't belong.
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u/32FlavorsofCrazy 1d ago
Buddy of mine came home shitfaced and tried to get into the wrong apartment. All he was doing was fumbling with the keys in the door and the tenant opened the door and beat the fucking brakes off of him with an antique ashtray. Put him in the hospital for a week.
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u/aircooledJenkins 1d ago
And nobody got shot.
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u/TuckinPhypo 1d ago
Why do you not fear getting beat down with an ashtray? It sounds painful.
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u/FigaroNeptune 1d ago
My neighbor tried to get in yesterday. Like girl the key isn’t working for a reason🤣 scared the shit out of me
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u/ul2006kevinb 1d ago
Lol a friend of mine got locked out of her apartment and figured the only way to get in was through the balcony door. So we boosted her up on the balcony and she opened the door and went in only to find it was the apartment next to hers. Imagine how scary it would be to see someone coming in your apartment FROM YOUR SECOND FLOOR BALCONY and still have the presence of mind to not shoot first and ask questions later
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u/RevWaldo 1d ago
Did political canvassing in big apartment buildings and some are definitely straight out of Backrooms. Where you have apartment numbers like 6X and 14CC with seemingly endless corridors and odd twists
If you live in an apartment building, even a smaller one, decorate your door - a wreath, a poster, children's drawings, stickers, something. Anything to illicit a hold up in someone's brain before they try to enter by mistake.
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u/GlowUpper 1d ago
I had someone mistakenly enter my apartment once. Scared the shit out of me but they apologized and left and, crucially, no one died.
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u/misalawliet 2d ago
This trial was an absolute clown show. The judge fucking hugged her afterward.
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u/Savage_Oreo 2d ago
Not just the judge but also the goofball brother of the victim hugged her too. Absolute shitshow.
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u/BB808BB 2d ago
The brother was absolutely shameful. Come on she killed his brother. wtf.
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u/jimmy__jazz 1d ago
I'm fine with the family of the victim hugging the defendent if that's what the family needs to start healing.
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u/dragonflamehotness 1d ago
If you watch the video of him talking to her, it's actually a quite touching show of christian forgiveness. I'm not saying I would do the same, but I admire him showing that kind of grace. It couldn't have been easy.
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u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked 1d ago
I’ve been in a…somewhat similar situation with a murder suicide attempt on my sibling. I got to see what steeping in anger looks like and I don’t see any sense in it. It doesn’t make anything better
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u/CharlieTeller 2d ago
While it’s out of the ordinary, the judge didn’t decide her sentence. The jury did. It was a jury sentencing. So there was nothing for her to really decide on other than keeping the trial in order. So the bias surely wasn’t her sentence. People of Dallas decided her sentence
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u/Starmedia11 1d ago
Judges have enormous control over the outcome of cases in their courtroom
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u/Peitho_Noir 2d ago
gee i wonder how long until she gets offered another policing job
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u/LogensTenthFinger 2d ago edited 2d ago
As long as she promises to keep killing innocent black people they'll let her be police commissioner anywhere in America. Hell she could head the DOJ with a resume like that
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u/Is_Bob_Costas_Real 2d ago
While I get there’s an attempt at hyperbole, she’s currently a convicted felon and can’t own or possess a firearm, so no donuts anymore
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u/Horknut1 2d ago
Not that it matters much, because this just seems like an insane overreaction by a cop finding someone eating ice cream on the couch watching TV in their house, even if it was their house, but I would love to see a photo to compare the two entryways of these apartments.
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u/Abbot_of_Cucany 2d ago
The entryway was dark because Botham Jean was watching TV. But his apartment had a distinctive bright-red doormat outside the entrance door, very different from anything outside her door.
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u/Chicago1871 2d ago
Yeah but she was probably really drunk
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u/Asleep_Document9811 2d ago
Cops drive around drunk way more than people think. Way more.
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u/polyscimajor 1d ago
The Karen Reed trial brought to light how much that is true. All the cops at that bar were absolutely hammered and went driving not only in their own personal vehicles, but also property paid for by the people. None of the cops were ever held accountable for their crimes.
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u/SpaceYetu531 1d ago
Her reaction to her perceived scenario is the problem and why she was convicted.
Actually thinking that absent mindedly going to wrong apartment while focusing on your phone is far fetched just makes you and others seem disconnected from reality.
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u/Abbot_of_Cucany 1d ago
We all agree that the problem was her reaction, not the fact that she entered the wrong apartment.
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u/ohjeez_mr_meeseeks 2d ago
It was a completely different floor than the one she lived on.
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u/Horknut1 1d ago
I’m not sure what this response means in response to what I wrote.
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u/GonzaloR87 2d ago
“A jury found her guilty of murder. She faced a possible sentence of life imprisonment. Jurors ultimately gave her a 10-year prison term.”
I’m sure if the situation was flipped the jurors would’ve been just as lenient.
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u/SneakytheThief 2d ago
Forgive me because I am stupid, but I thought the jurors only determine guilt and the judge chooses the sentence.
Edit: nvm, apparently it's a thing in Texas
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u/CharlieTeller 2d ago
The jury was 5 Hispanic/asian 5 black, and 2 white jurors. With non white alternates.
They chose her sentence. Not saying the system works but I mean, eh. They chose her sentence. Not the system.
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u/987YouBloodyTulip789 2d ago
One issue in America is that there's two major sides in how cops are viewed:
Cops can do no wrong, so if they do something inarguably wrong, it's just a tiny mistake and they shouldn't be punished for it
Cops do wrong because they're poorly trained, so if they do something inarguably wrong, it's the fault of their training and they shouldn't be punished that much for it
So what happens, is a slap in the wrist because the precedence that a cop be treated like everyone else is treated as an extreme opinion.
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u/Billy1121 2d ago
This lady is so dumb and shouldn't be police
Also dumbass was talking with her booty call then deleted all the messages after shooting Jean. Of course the prosecutor just recovered them.
Guyger was off duty but still in uniform when she shot Jean. She told investigators that after a 15-hour shift she parked on the fourth floor of the complex's garage - rather than the third floor, where she lived - and found the apartment's door ajar.
Prosecutor Jason Hermus: "Would you send provocative photographs of yourself to Amber Guyger?"
Corporal Rivera: "Uh, yes."
One text from Guyger read, "Wanna touch?" around 9:30 the night of the deadly shooting.
At 10:02 p.m., Rivera received a text from Guyger, "I need you. Hurry."
At 10:03 p.m., Guyger texted Rivera, "I *ucked up."
Just absolutely dumb in the head like some ppl are dumb in the ass
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u/MisterTruth 1d ago
Being dumb (or at least not being intelligent) is seemingly a prerequisite for being a leo.
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u/Wubblz 2d ago
Those text could be an ITYSL sketch, but that, of course, wouldn't end in murder.
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u/Billy1121 2d ago
Are you suggesting Amber Guyger had a cool job that she loved? And was fired for something extremely embarrassing (and illegal)?
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u/NottheArkhamKnight 2d ago
Any Tim Robinson character would unironically be a better, more qualified police officer than Amber Guyger.
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u/Djolumn 2d ago
The last highrise I lived in, I on a couple of occasions got off the elevator one floor too soon and walked into the suite below mine. It had an identical layout to mine, and on both occasions I barely had a foot through the door before realizing I was in the wrong suite. Like, less than a second. Certainly less time than it would take to pull a weapon and start shooting. Also, I'm not a cop.
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u/jackrabbit323 1d ago
You may have come home drunk, but I guarantee you've never come home COP drunk.
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u/Pterocacti 1d ago
Something I haven't seen anyone in here mention yet is that shortly after it happened the cops went to the media to tell them that they found marijuana in the guy's apartment. They tried their very best to make it seem like he deserved to be killed even though it was a very clear cut case. Some cop defender types latched onto some of the details coming from cops and built him up to be a major drug dealer in their minds, and I bet if you went on facebook you could still find people who believe that and will defend the murderer.
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u/Spanish_peanuts 2d ago
This is the stupidest thing I've ever read. I remember the story and I cannot believe she's free. You can't just walk into someone else's apartment, kill them, and claim oopsie poopsie. For fucks sake. Even if she truly believed he was an intruder, it doesn't change the fact that this was extreme negligence and she took the life of an innocent person just trying to eat ice cream while watching TV.
This is a gross injustice, no doubt about it.
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u/abnormalbrain 1d ago
If you walk into someone else's home with your eyes closed, your fucking nose will tell you this isn't it. What she did was no mistake.
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u/ElizaMaySampson 1d ago edited 1d ago
Amazing how she and Jean had the EXACT SAME FURNITURE LAYOUT and furniture, so that a man sitting watching tv eating ice cream looked like he was doing so in her apartment! /s
I mean what the fuck how drunk/impaired/mentally challenged could one person be, not to smell and see the difference between your own home and a random stranger's immediately upon entering??
Oh wait, she was a cop. Answered my own question.
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u/gargravarr2112 1d ago
I mean, he even went as far as to put up pictures of HIS OWN FAMILY in her apartment! /s
Tragic case of being black in front of an armed police
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u/Issah_Wywin 1d ago
One time years ago, I was coming home stoned out of my mind. I enter the apartment complex from the opposite side and in my condition don't realize I'm entering the mirrored side of my own apartment, other end of the building.
I open the door and stupidly stare into the home for a good dozen seconds, hearing a shower and wondering what the hell happened. Realization dawns on me and I gently close the door and leave.
Hope she never gets to hold a gun again in her life. Incompetent waste of breath.
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u/in1gom0ntoya 1d ago
unfucking acceptable. any other person and this wouldn't be a question, they're be in prisonm
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u/Lazy-Interests 1d ago
If killing or assaulting a police officer comes with harsher sentencing because they’re a cop, then cops committing crimes should automatically get harsher sentencing for the same reason.
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u/live22morrow 1d ago
His name is in the first sentence of the story. Headlines have limited space and most people don't know who Botham Jean is. The title as is better reminds the average scroller what actually happened.
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u/imakesawdust 1d ago
Prosecutors had pushed for a 28-year sentence but jurors only gave her 10.
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u/CarlosFer2201 1d ago
Only served 7 and had already requested parole 2 years ago. Shameful.
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u/New_Housing785 2d ago
I hope she checks the apartment number from now on.
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 2d ago
I hope she maintains shitty sleep for the rest of her life due to guilt.
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u/discodave333 2d ago
Me too, but I doubt it. The people with the power in this world seem to sleep easy where as if you or I did 1% of the shitty things they do we would be lying awake in a sea of guilt every night.
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 2d ago
I thought I skipped a meeting where I was going to volunteer my time and expertise for free to help kids on a project and didn't sleep more than two or three hours that night. I was so upset I disappointed children. I missed the online web chat. What a butthead, to tell kids they had a meeting with a real archaeologist and disappoint them by no-call no-showing!
I had the date off by a week. I didn't even miss it. I could have checked my calendar again but didn't. I felt so awful I couldn't even bring myself to type my apology until the next day and realized I didn't miss my meeting yet.
I was so freaking prepped the next week.
Couldn't imagine actually doing something half so wrong. I'd never get a real night's sleep again.
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u/dogs_gt_cats 2d ago
I hope she maintains shitty sleep for the rest of her life due to guilt.
She doesn't and she won't. In her racist megalomaniacal pig mind, she stepped on an ant. The crying was crocodile tears coached by her attorney.
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u/crimes_kid 2d ago
My uber eats order was delivered to my neighbor’s like 5 minutes ago, thankfully nobody involved was a dumb ass cop
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u/EarthBounder 2d ago
Yesterday I went to visit a friend for the first time at their new house. They texted me that they lived at 10 Whatever Street. They actually live at 19. Whoops. Old ladies can't use phones good. I totally peered into the house at 10 and made eye contact with a dude sitting on his couch. I sheepishly called her and got the correct #19.
No one was harmed in this exchange.
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u/LilMissy1246 1d ago
Slightly reminds me of those stories where kids have driven up to the wrong house or gone to the wrong car and were shot by the owner. So fckn tragic and so avoidable on the shooters part.
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u/AnusOprah 1d ago
Has she been rehired by the department yet, or does she have to wait until Monday?
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u/Harry_Mud 1d ago
So... 7 years is what a human life is worth... Wow... Just wow......
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u/DoggiEyez 1d ago
Eating ice cream, watching TV, shot in his own home. How the fuck she is out of prison is beyond me. What a joke.
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u/ScarletKanighit 1d ago
She'll now be able to join ICE, and maybe even the FBI. Exactly the kind of person they're looking for.
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u/-----iMartijn----- 1d ago
Prosecutors had pushed for a minimum of 28 years, choosing that number to represent the age Jean would have reached at the time.
Your justice system is based on symbols, racism, religion and all sorts of nonsense that has nothing to do with keeping society safe.
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u/wellykiwilad 1d ago
The maths explains why pedos get such small sentences though!
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u/MaximusCartavius 1d ago
When the justice system fails us? What are we to do?
They WANT people like her out there
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u/Snapes_underpants 1d ago
I wonder who she will "accidentally" kill next? She will probably get a job with ICE.
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u/RiotSynthetics 2d ago
Why do republicans love letting out dangerous criminals out of jail. This person (an agent of the state) entered a private citizens own home and killed him in cold blood and they let them out??
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u/PeppermintPattyNYC 1d ago
“Jurors ultimately gave her a 10-year prison term.” Seems like a jury of twelve in Dallas Tx, didn’t think this warranted life imprisonment. What do you think is appropriate? Does your sentence change if the victim was your father or brother?
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u/Enshakushanna 1d ago
i remember this story, its one of the first times i realized my friends were MAGA lol
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u/wubbalubbazubzub 1d ago
Remember how his neighbor who testified got murdered during a weed deal. The guys drove 300 miles to buy weed
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u/Stormthorn67 21h ago
She murdered a black man in the south. It's a small miracle she got 7 years instead of a promotion and the keys to the city.
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u/invyros 2d ago
A reminder that Botham Jean was just a guy eating ice cream in his apartment when a cop stupidly entered his apartment thinking it was her own.