Dallas officer goes home to wrong apartment, kills man inside, police say

- An off-duty Dallas police officer shot and killed a man after walking into the wrong apartment in her building just south of Downtown Dallas.

It happened around 10 p.m. Thursday. The Dallas Police Department said the officer had just finished her shift and entered what she believed was her own apartment at the South Side Flats. The complex is near the department's headquarters on Lamar Avenue.

But it was not the right apartment and the officer ran into a man who she didn’t recognize. She ended up shooting him. Responding officers found 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean badly wounded. He was taken to the hospital and died a short time later, police said.

Police would not say whether the female officer fired her weapon because she thought Jean was an intruder or for some other reason. It's not yet clear how she got into the wrong apartment.

People who live nearby said they got a notification about the shooting on the app Nextdoor. They can't believe what happened.

"Super scary because the police are supposed to protect you and then they come home and, you know, you're just hanging out in your own house and then they come home thinking they're home or whatever. I don't know if she was tired but that's pretty scary," said Richard Healy Nelson, who lives in the complex.

Dallas police have not yet released the officer's name. She is now on administrative leave.

The department is still investigating and will be conducting a joint investigation with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.