Atatiana Jefferson's Father Dies of Heart Attack Less Than a Month after His Daughter Was Fatally Shot by Cop in Her Home

Marquis A. Jefferson, the father of Atatiana Jefferson, the black woman who was killed last month by a cop in Texas, has died. The grieving dad passed away on November 9 after suffering a cardiac arrest at age 59.

According to CNN, Marquis suffered the cardiac arrest on Friday night and was taken to a Dallas hospital where he gave up the ghost.

Bruce Carter, the family spokesperson, spoke with the outlet:

"[Marquis] ultimately just succumbed to, I don't know, I can only say a broken heart. He just never recovered from the grieving process… I think it just got the best of him."

The Shade Room published an Instagram post about the tragedy, and netizens mourned Marquis in the comments.

"A broken heart is hard to mend!" observed one Instagram user. "It’s true you can really have a broken heart."

"This hurts my heart. I can't even imagine," chimed in another. "Prayers to the family."

According to Daily Mail, Marquis had earlier sought a temporary restraining order to gain control over the funeral arrangements from his daughter's aunt. He argued that as Atatiana’s sole legal heir, he should be the one to arrange her funeral.

"He was battling to be a part of her life to the end," Bruce told CNN.

Marquis’s death comes less than a month after his only child, Atatiana, was shot to death by former white cop Aaron Dean in her Fort Worth, Texas home while playing video games with her nephew.

At about 2:25 am on October 12, Atatiana’s neighbor was concerned after noticing her home’s front door was ajar. He then put a call through to the non-emergency police line.

The officers arrived at Atatiana’s home in the dark, and bodycam footage released afterward showed them creeping around the house without identifying themselves.

As CNN reported, the police said Atatiana pointed a gun at the window after hearing a noise in her backyard. It was at that point, Aaron yelled: "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!" before firing through the window and killing the 28-year-old woman.

At no point did any of the cops identify themselves as police officers.

Aaron has since resigned from the force and has been charged with murder. It was also revealed that the former cop was not cooperating with investigators and refused to provide a written statement.

Atatiana was a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans, where she earned a bachelor's degree in biology and was thinking of furthering her education.