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On Sunday, authorities in Georgia ruled that the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks was a homicide. Brooks, 27, died after he was shot twice in the back on Friday, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement. Brooks was shot after a confrontation with two Atlanta police officers in the parking lot of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant.
Police had been summoned there on a report of a man sleeping in his car in the drive-through. Brooks struggled with the officers after they administered a field sobriety test and tried to take him into custody, and surveillance video appears to show Brooks running away from the officers with a stun gun that he’d taken from one of them While running, Brooks appeared to turn around and point the weapon at police. but according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, “At that point, the Atlanta officer reaches down and retrieves his weapon from his holster, discharges it, strikes Mr. Brooks there on the parking lot, and he goes down.”
Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned over the shooting, saying in a statement that “it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.” Garrett Rolfe, the officer who shot Brooks, was fired; and a second officer, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative duty.
Editorial credit: Lee Reese / Shutterstock.com
