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Xavier President: African-Americans hesitate to call police over fear of being killed

The HBCU president said recent events demonstrate clearly that there is an urgent need to fix a law enforcement system and philosophy that is broken for some.
Credit: WFAA

NEW ORLEANS — Responding to the news of an Xavier alumna being killed by police in her own home, school president Reynold Verret said action must be taken to fix a broken police system.

Verret sent a message to the Xavier Louisiana community addressing the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, who graduated from Xavier in 2014.

Jefferson, 28, was killed by a Fort Worth police officer in her own home Saturday morning. A neighbor had called police because they saw Jefferson's front door open around 2:30 a.m.

RELATED: Xavier grad fatally shot in her own home by Fort Worth officer

Jefferson was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew when she got up to "investigate" a noise she heard from her backyard, Attorney Lee Merritt tweeted.

Body-Camera footage shows the police officer shot her through the window of one of her bed rooms.Officials said the officer perceived a threat.

"We should expect safety when we call on our police, whose mission is to protect and serve," Verret said. "Sadly, our fathers and mothers must caution daughters and sons on their interactions with officers."

See Verret's complete statement below:

Credit: WWL

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