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Nearly seven years after Atatiana Jefferson was shot and killed by a Fort Worth police officer while inside her own home, the city has approved an $11.25 million settlement with her family.
The Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved the settlement Tuesday, August 25, resolving the civil claims against the city stemming from Jefferson’s 2019 death. The agreement must still receive approval from a probate court before it becomes final.
Jefferson was 28 years old when former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean fatally shot her through a window of her home in the early morning hours of October 12, 2019.
Police had been called to Jefferson’s home after a neighbor noticed that her front door was open and requested a welfare check. Jefferson was inside with her 8-year-old nephew, Zion Carr, and the two had been playing video games. Dean entered the backyard and, after seeing Jefferson through a window, fired a single shot.
Jefferson’s death became one of the most closely watched police killings of a Black woman in recent years, drawing national attention to the circumstances under which she was killed: at home, during a call intended to check on her well-being.
Protesters gather in the wake of Atatiana Jefferson’s 2019 killing, demanding justice and accountability after the 28-year-old was fatally shot by a Fort Worth police officer inside her home. (Courtesy Getty Images)Dean was later charged in Jefferson’s death. In December 2022, a jury convicted him of manslaughter, making him the first Fort Worth police officer convicted in connection with an on-duty shooting. He was sentenced to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison.
Jefferson’s family also pursued accountability through the civil court system, filing a wrongful-death lawsuit against Dean and the city. The newly approved agreement resolves the remaining civil claims related to her death.
Under the terms of the settlement, Jefferson’s two minor nephews will receive larger shares of the money, which will be held in trust until they turn 18. Additional portions will be distributed among her surviving family members.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker acknowledged that the financial settlement cannot reverse what Jefferson’s family has endured.
“Atatiana Jefferson’s family and loved ones have suffered a profound and unimaginable loss,” Parker said when the proposed agreement was announced earlier this month. “While no settlement can undo the devastating impact of this tragedy, we hope this agreement offers a meaningful measure of closure and allows everyone to move forward.”
Council member Chris Nettles similarly acknowledged the limitations of what the city could offer Jefferson’s family nearly seven years later.
“We know that this amount of money is not necessarily justice to her life, but it’s what we can do as a council,” Nettles said during Tuesday’s meeting.
For Jefferson’s family, the settlement is another measure of accountability in a years-long process that has included both a criminal conviction and civil action.
“For us, accountability has never been about a single verdict, sentence, or settlement,” Jefferson’s sister, Ashley Carr, said in a statement. “It has always been about ensuring that Atatiana’s life mattered, that what happened to her was acknowledged, and that her life was remembered.”
That remembrance has extended beyond the courtroom.
Following Jefferson’s death, her family and friends established The Atatiana Project, an organization created to provide educational opportunities and resources for children in underserved communities. Her name also lives on at the Atatiana Carr-Jefferson Community Center at Hillside in Fort Worth.
Her family is planning a community festival in October in her honor.
The settlement does not erase the circumstances that made Jefferson’s name known across the country. But nearly seven years after she was killed inside the place where she should have been safe, it brings one chapter of her family’s long pursuit of accountability closer to an end.
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