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(WASHINGTON) — An investigation by the Justice Department’s top watchdog uncovered “serious” failures in the Bureau of Prison’s handling of the prison transfer of notorious mobster James “Whitey” Bulger prior to his murder in custody in 2018, a new report released Wednesday said.

Bulger was found dead in his prison cell just 12 hours after his arrival at the U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia after suffering brutal injuries to his head and face. Three inmates in the prison have been charged in connection with his murder and are awaiting trial.

The Justice Department’s inspector general mounted a separate investigation into how the agency handled Bulger’s transfer. While its report Wednesday said investigators did not find evidence of “malicious intent” or purposely improper behavior on the part of BOP officials, they identified numerous failures at multiple levels of the prison system as well as puzzling bureaucratic issues in how Bulger’s transfer was allowed to go through.

“In our view, no BOP inmate’s transfer, whether they are a notorious offender or a non-violent offender, should be handled like Bulger’s transfer was handled in this instance,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.

Bulger was 89 years old and in a wheelchair at the time of his transfer from the high security federal prison at USP Coleman II in Florida to USP Hazelton, where he was immediately placed within the general population despite his notoriety as one of New England’s most sinister gangsters and previous history as an informant for the FBI.

Officials at USP Coleman began the process of seeking Bulger’s transfer in early 2018 after he reportedly issued a threat against a nurse at the facility, which led to his placement in a single cell in Coleman’s Special Housing Unit.

While Bulger was at the time designated as a ‘level 3’ medical care inmate due to his development of a heart condition while he was in federal custody, officials in BOP sought to downgrade his classification to make him eligible for placement at a higher number of other facilities, the report found.

Despite repeated efforts to reclassify Bulger as a ‘level 2’ medical care inmate, officials were instructed that Bulger’s health situation warranted him remaining at ‘level 3,’ the report said. But officials at Coleman seemingly ignored the recommendation and omitted other key information about Bulger’s health in their final transfer request before he was sent to Hazelton, a high-security level 2 care facility.

Investigators found that after Bulger’s transfer was approved, more than 100 employees at BOP received notifications and multiple inmates at Hazelton began sending communications about the transfer making clear they were aware he was due to arrive. Investigators said they were unable to determine which particular BOP employees at the prison were responsible for improperly disclosing news of Bulger’s transfer to inmates at Hazelton.

One alarming portion of the report found that a unit manager at Hazelton specifically requested Bulger be assigned to their unit even despite the fact that it housed another organized crime associate who would have familiarity with Bulger’s history. When interviewed by the inspector general’s office, the unit manager responded he was not a “gang expert” and was not aware of information “being discussed or put out” by others before Bulger arrived.

The inmate, Fotios Geas, was serving a life prison sentence on RICO charges and was associated with the Genovese Organized Crime Family and was one of the three individuals charged in Bulger’s death.

Investigators also found additional issues with how officials at Hazelton assessed the risk of harm Bulger faced from other inmates upon his transfer to the facility. According to the repot, BOP policy did not require Bulger to undergo a risk assessment by a BOP officer prior to his transfer which — if conducted, would have singled him out as likely ineligible for placement with the general population.

Bulger, who after 8 months in the single-cell Special Housing Unit at Coleman had reportedly started saying he had lost any will to live, also expressed a preference to be placed with the general population. Investigators also say he lied on an intake form that had asked whether he had ever been a member of a gang or if he provided cooperation to a law enforcement investigation.

Upon conclusion of their investigation the IG’s office made 11 recommendations to the Bureau of Prisons for improvements to their policies, all of which the agency accepted.

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(MOSCOW, Idaho) — As police in Moscow, Idaho, continue their search for the suspect who killed four University of Idaho students, they’ll begin to remove some of the victims’ personal belongings from the house where the crimes unfolded.

Belongings “no longer needed for the investigation” will begin to be collected Wednesday morning to get returned to the families, who have asked for some of the items, police said Tuesday.

“It’s time for us to get those things back that really mean something to those families, and hopefully help with some of their healing,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said.

It’s been nearly one month since roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13.

No suspects have been identified.

Two surviving roommates — who police said are not suspects — were home at the time and likely slept through the attacks, according to authorities. They were on the ground floor while the four victims were on the second and third floors.

Police added Tuesday that “the house remains an active crime scene” and said “progress continues to be made in the investigation.”

Police urge anyone with information to upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.

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(NEW YORK) — The family of a Black woman who was fatally shot in her home by a former Fort Worth, Texas, police officer in 2019 said they’ve been waiting for justice for over three years.

Atatiana Jefferson’s sister Ashley Carr said it’s “surreal” to finally see the case go to trial.

“We’ve been fighting and fussing about having this day and making sure that accountability is served for my sister’s death,” she told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “But now it’s really here, and it’s a realization that this is not in our control. This is in control of the jurors.”

Opening statements began on Monday in the trial of former police officer Aaron Dean who was charged with murder after fatally shooting Jefferson in her Fort, Worth Texas, home on Oct. 12, 2019. Dean was responding to a concerned neighbor’s request to check on Jefferson’s wellbeing after noticing her house’s front door open at night, police said.

Dean pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Though some of the 12 selected jurors are people of color, none are Black, which drew backlash and prompted protests in 2019.

The trial so far has hinged on the handgun in Jefferson’s hand right before Dean shot her. During opening arguments, his defense attorney, Miles Brissette, argued Dean was acting in self-defense after seeing Jefferson’s silhouette in the window holding a firearm with a green laser pointed directly at him. The prosecution, on the other hand, argued Dean couldn’t have seen her gun in the split second before he opened fire.

The trial’s first witness was Zion Carr, Jefferson’s then 8-year-old nephew who was playing video games and cooking hamburgers with his aunt right before Dean shot her in their house. During questioning, Carr, 11, was asked to recount the traumatic events from that night, testifying that his aunt had never raised the gun from her side.

Brissette declined ABC News’ request for comment.

Ed Kraus, the Fort Worth Police chief at the time of the shooting who has since retired, said in 2019 that Dean’s conduct was in violation of multiple police department policies, including “our use of force policy, our de-escalation policy, and unprofessional conduct.”

“I certainly have not been able to make sense of why she had to lose her life,” Kraus said at the time. “On behalf of the men and women of the Fort Worth Police Department, I’m so sorry for what occurred.”

Jefferson, a pre-medical graduate of Xavier University, is survived by her three siblings: Ashley, Amber and Adarius, who say they’ve been one another’s “support system” their entire lives. Their mother, Yolanda Carr, who died just months after Jefferson’s death, nicknamed her children the “A-Team” because their names all start with the letter A.

“We understand as a family that there is nothing that we can do in this process but be present,” Ashley Carr said. “So our goal is to be present to make sure everyone knows that Atatiana was loved.”

Ashley Carr said she and her family have tried to “keep the momentum” going to ensure Jefferson’s name is not forgotten, including speaking at the White House and U.S. Senate.

“They joined the fight for families all across the country,” Lee Merritt, the family’s attorney, told Good Morning America. “They’ve been a part of a community of activists and organizers who were at the forefront of what became a major moment in history during the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Jefferson’s siblings also started a nonprofit called the Atatiana Project that strives to promote STEAM education and activities among urban youth. They’ve even hosted a free summer camp where kids could build their own computers and robots.

“Our goal is just to amplify how beautiful Atatiana was,” Carr said, remembering her sister as an avid video gamer, animal lover and aspiring medical student. “If you go on our website, we say she didn’t die. She will multiply through the generations that we serve.”

“She was my little sister, but was such a big person,” she added.

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(HOUSTON) — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s office said late Tuesday that his daughter is OK and asked for privacy for the family after Houston police and fire personnel were called to his home.

“This is a family matter and thankfully their daughter is okay,” Cruz’s representatives said in a statement to ABC affiliate KTRK-TV and other outlets.

“There were no serious injuries. The family requests the media respect their daughter’s privacy at this time,” Cruz’s office said.

According to KTRK, the Houston Police Department said they received reports just before 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday of a 14-year-old with self-inflicted stab wounds on their arms in the neighborhood River Oaks, where the Republican lawmaker resides with his wife, Heidi, and their two daughters.

Authorities said the unidentified teen was taken to the hospital but could not say whether the 911 call involved a member of Cruz’s family.

When KTRK arrived to the scene, police officers were outside Cruz’s home.

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(MOORE COUNTY, N.C.) — The gun attack that crippled two power substations and knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of utility customers in Moore County, North Carolina, is being investigated as a criminal act and law enforcement, including the FBI, are working around the clock to identify suspects and determine a motive behind the sabotage.

The criminal vandalism has caused major disruptions throughout the county, including the closures of public schools and prompted officials to impose a nightly curfew.

Here is a timeline of how the crisis unfolded and the race by utility crews to repair what authorities described as “millions of dollars in damages”:

Dec. 3 — Just after 7 p.m. on Saturday, Duke Energy company, the local utility provider, responded to a failure at an electrical substation near the city of Carthage, which was soon followed by the failure of a second substation, authorities said. The incident plunged roughly 45,000 utility customers into darkness as freezing temperatures set in.

Dec. 4 — Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields announces at a news conference that gunfire caused extensive damage to the two substations, describing the incident as “intentional vandalism.” On Sunday afternoon, Fields says the FBI and the state Department of Public Safety were assisting in the investigation, and notes multiple shots were fired at each substation and that a gate to one of them was rammed open. A countywide state of emergency is declared and officials announce a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew would be imposed. The sheriff says investigators are looking into whether the attacks are related to protests over a Downtown Divas drag show in the Moore County city of Southern Pines Saturday night, but that no evidence had been uncovered linking the two events.

Dec. 5 — Schools throughout Moore County are cancelled as Duke Energy officials say the damage to the substations is substantial and would take multiple days to replace equipment that was completely destroyed. The federal Department of Homeland Security and the White House announce they were monitoring the situation and providing federal assistance. Fields tells ABC News that the perpetrator or perpetrators knew exactly what they were doing and could face murder charges if someone dies as a result of the power outage. Gov. Roy Cooper says at a news conference that “this kind of attack raises a new level of threat” and that officials would begin working on ways to harden security to protect key infrastructure throughout the state.

Dec. 6 — Schools are cancelled for the second day following a second night in which a curfew was imposed on county residents. Duke Energy says more than 35,000 customers are still without electricity.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — San Francisco supervisors have nixed their plan to allow police officers to use robots to kill in emergency situations, a board member confirmed on Tuesday.

“The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city,” supervisor Dean Preston told ABC News in a statement. “There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide. We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”

The news comes a day after community groups protested outside San Francisco’s City Hall condemning the ordinance, which the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved in an 8-3 vote on Nov. 29.

Before the board’s vote reversing course, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California told ABC News that it was a terrible idea to let cops use robots for deadly force.

“Allowing them to kill remotely will lead to more mistakes, and as we have seen many times before with other police weapons, to more frequent use,” ACLU NorCal said.

In a letter to Mayor London Breed and city board members, dozens of racial justice groups, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, LGBTQ organizations and labor unions called for board members to change their vote, saying the use of robots would be dangerous to not only San Francisco residents, but to people who visit the city.

“SFPD’s proposal would allow officers to send these robots to all arrests and all searches with warrants, and to protests if police decide that ‘exigent circumstances’ or other flexible justifications in the policy apply,” the organizations wrote in the letter.

The SFPD did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment about the board’s reversal, but did defend the passage of the Law Enforcement Equipment Policy in a Dec. 1 press release, saying that it only planned to deploy the robots for potential lethal force “in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of life.”

“The use of robots in potentially deadly force situations is a last resort option. We live in a time when unthinkable mass violence is becoming more commonplace,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said at the time. “We need the option to be able to save lives in the event we have that type of tragedy in our city.”

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(MOORE COUNTY, N.C.) — About 35,000 utility customers in a North Carolina county were bracing for a fourth night Tuesday without electricity as a search for those responsible for sabotaging two key power substations continued and crews scrambled to repair what authorities described as “millions of dollars” in damages.

The crisis in Moore County has prompted local law enforcement to call in the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to help in the probe of what has been deemed a criminal act. The White House is also closely monitoring the situation, officials said.

“This kind of attack raises a new level of threat,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Asked whether the attacks are being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism, Cooper said, “I think investigators are leaving no stone unturned as to what this is as they are looking at every motivation that could possibly occur.”

Residents throughout Moore County remained under curfew Tuesday night, as area schools were canceled through Thursday, officials said.

Moore County law enforcement said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference that one person died inside a residence without power, but it remained unclear if the death is related to the electrical outage.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields told ABC News earlier that murder charges could be filed against those responsible for the attack if anyone dies as a result of the power outage.

“What was done was an intentional act. It was not a random act,” Fields said.

Jeff Brooks, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, the local utility, said crews are working around the clock to restore energy. He said electricity has been restored to about 10,000 customers.

Brooks said crews are making good progress and now believe they can restore power to all customers by midnight Wednesday. He said about 35,000 were still without power Tuesday evening, down from 45,000 customers who initially lost power.

Freezing temperatures in the county about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh forced many residents to seek warmth and food at a shelter opened in Carthage.

“It’s better to have warmth and comfort than make sure your belongings are safe,” Gunner Scevertson, one of the residents who left his home to seek warmth at the shelter, told Charlotte ABC affiliate WSOC.

Carthage business owner Rachel Haviley used her portable generator to serve up coffee and food to neighbors in need.

“My kids are home, they’re not in school. My husband was supposed to go to D.C., now he’s in daddy day care,” Haviley told WSOC. “I have a friend that was supposed to be at the hospital for class, now she’s not there. There are elderly people who rely on things that help keep them alive, so people’s lives and families have been impacted by this.”

Vandals wielding firearms are suspected of causing major damage to two electrical distribution substations, knocking out power to homes and businesses across the county, officials said.

Brooks said that while some of the damaged equipment could be repaired, other pieces had to be replaced.

The attacks occurred just after 7 p.m. Saturday, officials said.

Fields said the perpetrator or perpetrators shot up two key substations in the area, adding, they “knew exactly what they were doing.”

No arrests have been announced in the probe.

The attacks came amid protests over a Downtown Divas drag show in the Moore County city of Southern Pines. The drag show had been scheduled for Saturday night and was disrupted due to the blackout.

Fields said no evidence has yet been uncovered linking the power outage to the drag show.

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(WASHINGTON) — Just three days before two electrical substations were shot up, causing tens of thousands of customers to lose power in North Carolina, the federal Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning “lone offenders and small groups” could be plotting attacks and that the nation’s critical infrastructure was among the possible targets.

The warning became a reality on Saturday when widespread power outages in North Carolina were reported after a perpetrator or perpetrators shot up the power stations in Moore County. The incident left up to 45,000 utility customers without electricity and prompted local officials to declare a state of emergency.

The Homeland Security “National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin” issued on Nov. 30 said individuals and groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances “continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland.”

“Targets of potential violence include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, the LGBTQI+ community, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents,” the bulletin reads.

The bulletin followed one issued by the Department of Homeland Security in January, warning that domestic extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020, according to the Associated Press.

While law enforcement investigating the Moore County sabotage has yet to identify a suspect or a motive, the attack has been described by local authorities as an “eye-opener” and prompted calls to harden the state’s infrastructure to deter future incidents.

“This kind of attack raises a new level of threat,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

But similar attacks and foiled plots suggest electrical grids and other infrastructure across the United States have been targeted over the past decade.

In April 2013, a group of suspects wielding high-powered rifles staged an attack in California’s Silicon Valley, shooting up the Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s Metcalf substation, riddling transformers with bullets, officials said. PG&E said the attack caused $15 million in damage and prompted the utility company to spend $100 million to beef up security at its substations, including installing intruder detection systems.

No arrests were made in the California attack.

“Metcalf was an interesting attack because they also attacked the fiber communications vault just up the street to try to interfere with the alarm and communication with the substation,” Kevin Perry, retired director of critical infrastructure protection at Southwest Power Pool in Arkansas, told ABC News.

Unlike in Moore County, the attack failed to cause a major power outage.

“There’s a lot of redundancy that’s built into the grid. And in the case of Metcalf, even though the substation was taken out of service, (PG&E) was able to bypass the substation and continue to energize the area,” Perry said.

Perry said most electrical distribution substations across the country are vulnerable to attacks because they are usually in remote areas and have little security.

“Substations tend to be out in the middle of nowhere, and that means they’re, for the most part, unattended,” Perry said. “If you take out enough equipment then you lose the redundancy and when you lose the redundancy you don’t have any way of feeding power to that particular area, and that’s when you end up with a regional blackout.”

In February, three men each pleaded guilty in Ohio to a federal charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists as part of a scheme to attack power grids in the United States in furtherance of white supremacist ideology, according to the Department of Justice. The men – one from Ohio, one from Texas and the third from Wisconsin — met online and plotted to use high-powered rifles to attack electrical substations in different regions of the United States, the DOJ said in a statement.

“The defendants believed their plan would cost the government millions of dollars and cause unrest for Americans in the region. They had conversations about how the possibility of the power being out for many months could cause war, even a race war, and induce the next Great Depression,” the DOJ’s statement reads.

The plot was thwarted when two of the men were pulled over by police in Ohio for a traffic violation and one swallowed a “suicide pill” but ultimately survived, according to federal prosecutors.

In 2019, a Utah man pleaded guilty to one federal count of destruction of an energy facility stemming from a 2016 rifle attack on a Buckskin Electrical substation in Kane County and was sentenced to 96 months in prison, according to federal officials. The attack caused nearly $400,000 in damage and triggered a power outage in Kane and Garfield counties, officials said.

As part of the plea agreement, the defendant admitted causing damage to three substations in Nevada, but was not charged in those incidents, according to federal prosecutors.

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(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — Three University of Virginia football players killed in a mass shooting on the Charlottesville campus have been honored with posthumous degrees from the university.

Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry were fatally shot on the night of Nov. 13 while on a bus that had just returned from a class trip to see a play in Washington, D.C. Two other students were injured in the incident. The suspected gunman, also a student, was arrested.

Chandler was a second-year student majoring in American studies. American studies professor Jack Hamilton tweeted that he helped Chandler declare his major, “which he was really excited about.”

“He was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny,” Hamilton tweeted. “It is so sad and enraging that he is gone.”

Davis, a third-year student, majored in African American and African studies, according to UVA.

In a university video last year, Davis said he loved movies, reading Shakespeare and the Bible.

Davis called UVA the “perfect place for anyone who wants to work hard and be great.”

UVA president Jim Ryan and athletics director Carla Williams were among the university officials who attended the funerals in each of the player’s hometowns.

Williams said, after talking with Davis’ family at his funeral, “it became obvious” “why earning his degree from the University of Virginia was so important to” him. “He worked extremely hard for it,” Williams said in a statement Monday.

Perry, a fourth-year student, double majored in studio art and African American and African studies, according to the university.

Perry was “very, very, very artistic” and loved music, head coach Tony Elliott said at a news conference last month. He had a “sense of humor that was one of a kind,” Elliott said.

The diplomas have been presented to the slain students’ families.

ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson and Arthur Jones contributed to this report.

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(DALLAS) — Witness testimony continued Tuesday in the trial of now-former police officer Aaron Dean in the 2019 fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson.

Dean is charged with murder in the death of Jefferson, a Black woman who was allegedly fatally shot by Dean inside her Fort Worth, Texas, home on Oct. 12, 2019.

Prosecutors began their opening statements by telling jurors about who Jefferson was. She was a 28-year-old woman who was living with her mother to take care of her, as well as address her own “severe health issues with her heart,” according to prosecutors. In that house, she helped raise Zion Carr, her then-8-year-old nephew who was present when she was fatally shot by police. She was “helping raise Zion, teaching him the responsibilities, day-to-day chores,” prosecutors said.

On that night, “[Zion] sees his aunt Tay — which is what he calls her — still playing video games and she’s up so, 8-year-old says ‘I want to play too.’ So, he gets up and he starts playing video games with her so they’re laughing, having a good time. Tatianna and Zion had no idea what was coming,” prosecutor Ashlea Deener said.

The defense began Monday’s hearing arguing for a motion to change the venue in which the trial is held because almost all of the potential jurors during jury selection had heard of the case. Judge George Gallagher denied the motion.

During opening statements, the defense focused on the gun in Jefferson’s hand in the moments before she was shot. The prosecution argued that Dean shot Jefferson before Dean could see a gun and before Jefferson could follow his commands.

“As soon as Aaron enters into the backyard, he sees a silhouette at the window,” Dean’s defense attorney Miles Brissette said. “Aaron sees that silhouette in the window and that silhouette has a firearm. That silhouette has a firearm with a green laser mounted on the front rail of that firearm pointed directly at Aaron, closer than me to you to the window.”

“The evidence will support he did not see the gun in her hand,” Deener said. “This is not a justification. This is not a self-defense case. This is murder.”

On the stand, now-11-year-old Zion told the court that he and Jefferson burned the hamburgers they were making, which is why they opened the door. They left the screen door open to let the smoke out, according to Zion and prosecutors.

He was the first and only witness to take the stand on the first day of the trial.

Police said they received a call just before 2:30 a.m. to respond to Jefferson’s home on East Allen Avenue after a neighbor called to say the front door was open.

Two officers arrived at the house shortly after and parked near Jefferson’s home, but not in front of the residence, according to officials.

The front door appears open in the body-camera footage, but a screen door looks to be closed in front of it. The officer doesn’t appear to knock.

Officials said the officers walked around the back of the house and that one of the officers observed a person through the rear window of the home and opened fire.

Zion said his aunt heard a noise, asked him about it and went to get a handgun from her purse. She walked toward the window, and then he said he saw her fall to the ground.

“She started crying and then two police officers came and got me,” Zion said.

Zion said his aunt did not raise her gun when she approached the window, however the defense attorney kept asking Zion questions about his recollection of an interview he did the night after his aunt was shot.

Zion had allegedly said during that interview that Jefferson had at one point raised the gun from her side, but Zion said he didn’t remember the details of what he did/said during the interview in response to the questions, visibly frustrated on the stand.

Fort Worth Police Lt. Brandon O’Neil said the officer who opened fire on Jefferson never identified himself as a police officer.

Officer Carol Darch, Dean’s former partner in the Fort Worth Police Department, took the stand Tuesday for cross-examination.

In her testimony, Darch said messiness inside the home made it look like there had been a home invasion of some sort, “like someone had methodically gone through that house looking for something.”

She said she and Dean didn’t announce themselves because of their own safety, as well as based on “open structure” procedure that trains officers to reduce the possibility that they might give an intruder into the home a chance to escape by alerting them of their presence.

Darch described the call as an “open structure” call, which refers to a call about a structure with an open door or window.

She later was asked to describe the “pyramid” style “Use-of-Force Continuum,” which calls for deadly force to be the last resort in addressing a threat. However, training does not require officers to take all steps before using deadly force if met with a deadly force.

“Deadly force is always met with deadly force,” Darch said. “We’re trained to stop the threat.”

Abriel Talbert, the call center employee who took the 911 call from Jefferson’s neighbor, told the jury that she included details about the house for police answering the call.

In her description to police, she included information that the caller shared that “both neighbors’ vehicles are in the driveway … and neighbors are usually home but never have a door open.”

She included those details “so the officer knows what’s supposed to be at the address, nothing out of the ordinary, other than the open door.”

Darch told the jury that she never saw Jefferson’s gun on the scene and never heard Dean announce that he saw a gun on Jefferson himself.

“I heard him give commands, I started turning. I was halfway through my turn and I heard the shot,” Darch said.

She later added, “The only thing I could see [through the window] was eyes, really. I couldn’t make out if it was a male or a female. I just saw someone in the window and I saw their eyes — as big as saucers.”

Darch got emotional on the stand when Zion came up in questioning. She said she was concerned about his well-being, as she said she tended to Zion’s care following the shooting.

Body camera footage released by the department shows the officer approaching a rear window of the home with his gun drawn. The officer sees the woman through the window and shouts, “Put your hands up, show me your hands,” and fires one shot.

The video seems to confirm the officer never identified himself as police before he opened fire.

Police officials said Jefferson was within her rights to protect herself and her nephew when she heard noises in her backyard and went to the window to investigate.

Court will resume on Wednesday.

There were concerns the trial would be delayed after Dean’s lead attorney, Jim Lane, died on Nov. 27, according to Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA, just one day before the jury selection in the case began. Lane had been ill and two other lawyers took over as lead attorneys in May, according to WFAA.

Monday’s court proceedings will only last half a day because of Lane’s funeral.

ABC News’ Amanda Su contributed to this report.

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