Botham Jean was “a light in a dark room,” according to his friends. Born in the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia, he decided when he was 8 to be a servant of Christ and pestered his family for two years to baptize him. He loved to preach and sing, and when the time came for college, he set his mind on Harding University in the United States. There, Bo — as his American friends called him — joined the school’s acapella group and interned with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, always returning to Saint Lucia each summer with his new friends to volunteer for the community. His internship morphed into a full-time career at PwC’s Dallas branch. He was only 26.
Botham Jean was murdered by police on September 6, 2018, in his own apartment. Lounging in his shorts, eating ice cream and watching TV after work, a cop entered his apartment’s open door and pulled her weapon on him. Startled, he stood up, and the cop shot him. The cop lived in the apartment directly beneath Botham’s, and mistakenly thought she had entered her apartment instead. She claimed she performed CPR on him, though later recanted. Initially charged with manslaughter, she was indicted and convicted of murder. At her sentencing, the judge gave her a hug and a Bible.
Black lives matter.
