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DA to announce charging decision in black man’s police-involved death in Atlanta
Rayshard Brooks, 27, was fatally shot in a Wendy’s parking lot on Friday.June 17, 2020, 3:21 PM8 min read The district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, will soon announce his charging decision in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, a black man who died at the hands of an Atlanta police officer. District Attorney Paul…
Rayshard Brooks, 27, was fatally shot in a Wendy's parking lot on Friday.
June 17, 2020, 3:21 PM
8 min read
The district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, will soon announce his charging decision in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, a black man who died at the hands of an Atlanta police officer.
District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. is set to hold a news conference on the case at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Brooks, a 27-year-old husband, father and stepfather, was shot Friday in a Wendy's parking lot. His death sparked an arson fire, new protests, an investigation and the resignation of Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields.
Garrett Rolfe, the officer who shot Brooks, was fired, and the second officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative leave.
Brooks was killed after officers were called to a Wendy's parking lot on Friday night of reports of a man, later identified as Brooks, asleep in his car. Police gave Brooks a Breathalyzer test, which registered a blood-alcohol level of .108%, above the legal limit of .08%.
When officers tried to place him in handcuffs, Brooks began to struggle and wrestled with both officers on the ground, grabbing an officer's stun gun.
Surveillance video showed Brooks running through the parking lot with the officers behind him. At one point, Brooks turned and allegedly shot the stun gun at an officer, who drew his weapon and opened fire.
Brooks died from two gunshots to his back, the medical examiner determined.
Brooks' wife, Tomika Miller, told ABC News on Sunday that she wants both officers arrested and the officer who was placed on administrative duty terminated.
“They don't need to be responding with guns and Tasers and things like that to a guy, sleeping in a parking lot situation,” an attorney for Brooks' family, L. Chris Stewart, told ABC News on Sunday. “There needs to be a certain branch of police departments that handle stuff like that.”
“That's how these situations escalate. They need to not be over policing, inner-city communities for minor stuff like this,” he said.
Another Brooks family lawyer, Justin Miller, questioned those who called this a justified shooting.
“Are they saying that he deserved to be shot because he fought back? Or he deserved to be shot because he was running away?” Miller told ABC News. “We don't think it's justified at all. Once someone is running away, he's not a threat to the officers … there's no justification for shooting somebody in the back.”
Miller, now a single black mother, said she feels “like I'm just a statistic.”
“Now I'm by myself taking care of four children,” she said. “This was not a choice — they forced this on me by taking my husband away, by taking my family.”
“No justice will ever get that back,” she added.
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