Even as protests over the police killing of George Floyd continue across the nation and world, another police killing has occurred.
The scene of this latest incident is Atlanta. There late Friday a black suspect was shot and killed by officers in a struggle following a field sobriety test. A few hours ago, the city’s police chief, Erika Shields, resigned.
According to the Associated Press via station WRDW:
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[R]oughly 150 protesters marched outside the Wendy’s restaurant where 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot. … The mayor … called for the immediate firing of the officer who opened fire at Brooks.
“I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer,” [Mayor Keisha Lance] Bottoms said.
The shooting is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which maintains that the deadly confrontation started with officers responding to a complaint that a man was sleeping in a car blocking the restaurant’s drive-thru lane. Brooks, the man in question, failed a field sobriety test and then resisted officers’ attempts to arrest him.
“In a circumstance like this where an officer is involved in the use of deadly force, the public has a right to know what happened,” GBI Director Vic Reynolds told a news conference on a day when protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting and in other areas of Atlanta.
According to the officers, who have not been identified, Brooks resisted arrest. During the ensuing scuffle he managed to wrest away one of the officer’s Tasers, which he pointed at them as he attempted to flee the scene.
This is a developing story.
*UPDATE*: Riots have broken out in Atlanta, and the Wendy’s location where the incident involving Brooks occurred was set ablaze by angry protesters. According to some reports, protesters are blocking firefighters’ access to the burning building.
