U.S. medical examiner rules Atlanta police shooting of Rayshard Brooks homicide

The fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American man, outside a fast food restaurant on Friday in Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, was ruled a homicide on Sunday.

Brooks was shot twice in the back and died from organ damage and blood loss from the wounds, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement.

Garrett Rolfe, the officer who shot Brooks, was fired. A second officer, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative duty. Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned over the shooting.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said his office is hoping to announce a decision about possible charges by the middle of next week.

Brooks died after a confrontation with police officers who were responding to a complaint that he was asleep in the drive-thru of the restaurant.

Police said the officers tried to take Brooks into custody after he failed a sobriety test, which led to a struggle between the two sides. Police claimed that Brooks, while allegedly resisting, grabbed an officer’s Taser and ran off with it.

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Footage capturing the scene from the restaurant’s parking lot showed that Brooks turned around and appeared to point the stun gun at the police officers before being shot.

An ambulance transferred Brooks to a local hospital, where he died after undergoing surgery.

The shooting prompted protests Saturday night in Atlanta, and the restaurant was set aflame.

Brooks’ death came amid widespread protests over the killing of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

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Source: Xinhua