Fort Worth approves $3.5 million settlement with family of Atatiana Jefferson

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The Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved Tuesday a $3.5 million settlement to be paid to the family of Atatiana Jefferson.

In October 2019, Jefferson was shot and killed inside her family’s Fort Worth home by a police officer standing outside her window. That officer, Aaron Dean, has since been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to more than 11 years in the case.

During a City Council meeting on Tuesday, the city finalized a $3.5 settlement with Jefferson’s family that will financially provide for her nephew, Zion Carr, who witnessed the shooting that took his aunt’s life.

Carr was 8 years old when Dean arrived at the house to perform a welfare check. Dean was responding to a late-night 911 call where a neighbor reported being concerned that the front door had been left open.

Jefferson was inside the home, playing video games with her nephew when she heard a noise outside. She grabbed her gun from her purse and walked toward a kitchen window. That’s when the officer, who was outside, said he saw the weapon and fired.

Jefferson’s family sued the city and reached a $3.5 million settlement with the money going to Carr. However, before the family could be paid the City Council had to approve the settlement. A judge still has to sign off on the settlement before it’s finalized.

According to the city, a lump sum would go into a trust fund for the child to cover his current financial needs and living expenses. The city would also create a college savings plan to pay for up to eight years of school so that he could obtain both an undergraduate and graduate degree. If he decides not to go to college, he’d receive a lump sum payment. Carr will also receive payments until he is 40 years old and the amounts would likely increase over time, based on interest.

With the interest, the payments made to Carr are expected to be closer to $6 million.

Fort Worth City Councilman Chris Nettles told NBC 5 that it was important to make sure the child was provided for and that the city righted its wrongs.

“It was important to us that we make sure that he lives a life, that he, there’s no struggle or there’s no issues and that he has the opportunity to go to college if he likes. And that was the goal of our city council and the mayor is to make sure we right our wrongs when it comes to the minor child affected,” Nettles said.

Amber Carr, the boy’s mother and Jefferson’s sister died in January 2023 after a long battle with congestive heart failure.

The City Council’s discussion and vote can be seen here.

NBC 5’s Larry Collins contributed to this report.