Dallas police Chief Renee Hall said Friday that a warrant for manslaughter was coming in the death of Botham Jean, the 26-year-old man shot at his apartment by a police officer who mistook the unit for her own.
On Saturday, no warrant had been issued, and the case was being handled by the Texas Department of Public Safety's Texas Rangers.
Hall, who was speaking at a criminal justice panel Saturday afternoon, said the Dallas department was "in the process of obtaining a warrant for the officer" when the Rangers were asked to help with the investigation to ensure transparency.
After the Rangers interviewed the officer, "they asked us to hold off on the warrant" until they could further investigate information they learned in the interview.
"The ball is in their court," Hall said. "They are the lead in this investigation."
The officer's name has not been released yet. Contrary to rumors swirling on social media, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation told WFAA that Jean and the officer did not know each other.
Earlier Saturday, Mayor Mike Rawlings held a news conference about the shooting and reiterated: "The Texas Rangers are now in charge."
"This is not the Dallas Police Department," Rawlings said. "That's good because it's independent."
The Rangers often assist police departments with officer-involved shooting investigations. While the shooting death of Jean was not technically an officer-involved shooting – the officer had just gotten off duty but was still in uniform – the incident was "a very unique situation," Rawlings said.
"This was a police officer that was off duty but still wearing the police uniform," Rawlings said. "There's protocol in how we deal with police officers, and there's protocol in how we deal with citizens. And that's one of the issues that the chief is in the middle of...I think she's walking that fine line."
Rawlings said he spoke with Jean's mother, who told him, "I'm not angry, I'm heartbroken. And I just want to make sure that all the truth is told."
"She's a very religious woman," Rawlings said, "and her view on this was amazingly graceful...she was saying, 'What happened?' And we have to figure out."
