Fresh protests in US as police shooting of black man at a US drive-thru ruled homicide

Matt Watts15 June 2020

The police shooting of a black man that has sparked further protests in the US has been ruled a homicide.

The death of Rayshard Brooks, killed by a white police officer in Atlanta on Friday, was a homicide caused by gunshot wounds to the back, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office said.

Brooks’ death reignited protests in Atlanta after days of worldwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

Brooks’ shooting came after an employee of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant phoned authorities to say that someone had fallen asleep in his car in the restaurant’s drive-through lane.

Brooks, 27, who had been in the car, failed a sobriety test and wrestled with officers, stealing a Taser and running away. He was then shot by one of the officers who reportedly said: “I got him.”

New footage from two officers’ body cameras and the dash-cams in their patrol cars showed they spent more than 40 minutes peacefully questioning Brooks, who cooperated with a sobriety test and talked about his daughter’s birthday. The fighting erupted when they tried to handcuff him.

An autopsy conducted yesterday showed that Brooks died from blood loss and organ injuries caused by two gunshot wounds.

Rayshard Brooks Protests - In pictures

1/21

The Fulton County District Attorney criticized the police officers’ handling of Brooks’ shooting and said that a decision on whether to bring charges could come around Wednesday.

“[The victim] did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable,” district attorney Paul Howard told CNN.

“It just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone’s death.”

“I watched the interaction with Mr. Brooks and it broke my heart,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN. “This was not confrontational.”

Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, resigned over the shooting. The officer suspected of killing Brooks was fired, and the other officer involved, also white, was put on administrative leave.

Demonstrators took to the streets and chanted for the officers in Brooks’ case to be criminally charged, at one point blocking traffic on a nearby highway. The Wendy’s restaurant was set on fire.

Police today offered a $10,000 reward and published photos of what appeared to be a masked white woman being sought in connection with the case.