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PwC to Hold Moment of Silence in Remembrance of Botham Jean

PwC will observe a moment of silence throughout all of its U.S. offices later this week in honor of Botham Jean, a 26-year-old risk assurance associate in the firm’s Dallas office who was shot and killed in his apartment by an off-duty Dallas police officer on Sept. 6.

First reported today by Bloomberg and confirmed to Going Concern by a PwC spokesperson, the moment of silence will be observed on Sept. 13, coinciding with Jean’s funeral.

The funeral service will be held Thursday at noon at the Greenville Avenue Church of Christ in Richardson, Texas. Tim Ryan, chairman of PwC U.S., will be attending.

The PwC Foundation has made a contribution toward the cost of Jean’s funeral service, and the firm will make a $50,000 contribution to a scholarship fund that Jean’s family established in his honor, Bloomberg reported. In addition, PwC also set up its own scholarship for minority students majoring in accounting at Harding University, Jean’s alma mater, and pledged to make another $50,000 donation to that fund.

PwC also started the hashtag #BeLikeBo for people to share their memories of Jean.

According to Bloomberg, Ryan said in an email to PwC employees on Sept. 11 that “emotions are raw not only in Dallas but across the firm” and that everyone should “take time to understand the experiences our underrepresented minorities—and especially, in this situation, our black colleagues—experience in everyday life so that we can all be better co-workers, friends and allies.”

Jean was fatally shot in his South Side Flats apartment by officer Amber Guyger, who was returning home after a 15-hour shift and believed she had entered her apartment, not his. She resides at apartment No. 1378; Jean resided one floor above her in apartment No. 1478, according to court documents. Guyger mistakenly parked on the fourth floor of the complex’s parking garage instead of the third floor.

The front door of Jean’s apartment was slightly ajar, and when the officer used her door key, which has an electronic chip, to open the apartment door, it was already unlocked. Guyger then noticed the apartment was unlit, but she saw a “large silhouette” in the darkness and thought her apartment was being burglarized.

Guyger, who was still in uniform, drew her service weapon, shouted commands she said were ignored by Jean, and fired two shots, one of which killed him.

She then called 911, turned on the lights, and when asked by emergency dispatchers where she was located, she walked back out of the apartment and discovered she was in 1478, not 1378.

Guyger, who is white, was arrested Sept. 9 on a manslaughter charge. She was released on bond.

A grand jury will decide the final charges against the officer and could consider charges such as murder, a first-degree felony, or the lesser charge of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, according to the Washington Post.

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