Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The father of a woman shot and killed in her home by a Fort Worth, Texas, police officer won a restraining order to halt her funeral and burial arrangements scheduled for Saturday.
Marquis Jefferson sought the order in Dallas County Probate Court on Friday after saying his daughter's aunt, Bonita Body, and the Golden Gate Funeral Home prevented him from participating in making arrangements.
Atatiana Jefferson died Oct. 12 after Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean shot her inside her mother's home. The 28-year-old woman was babysitting her 8-year-old nephew at the time, and a neighbor called police for a welfare check after seeing the door to the house open around 2:30 a.m.
After police began searching the permitter of the house, the nephew said Atatiana Jefferson thought a prowler was on the property, and she grabbed a gun and went to the window. Dean shot her through the window.
The probate court said Marquis Jefferson has greater authority to make his daughter's funeral arrangements. Her funeral and burial was scheduled to take place Saturday, but those services were canceled.
"Since her murder, her dad, Marquis Jefferson, has vowed to make sure her legacy does not die with her absence, and that death chasers will not use her tragedy for selfish gains," a spokesman for Marquis Jefferson told KXAS-TV in Dallas.
Two days after Atatiana Jefferson's death, Dean, 34, resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department. Authorities arrested and jailed him on murder charges.
