US News :
People in Atlanta took to the streets on Monday to protest at the state Capitol after the death of Rayshard Brooks, an African American man shot by police in Atlanta.
The Georgia NAACP organized the “March on Georgia,” and protesters marched from the Richard B. Russell Federal Building to the Georgia Capitol. The demonstration comes one day after an autopsy of Brooks revealed he was shot twice in the back and died from organ damage and blood loss.
The march coincides with Georgia’s General Assembly returning to work for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. It is calling for repealing citizens arrest, criminal legal reform, ending police brutality, improving elections and restoring voting rights. The NAACP said speakers at the march “will rally around the demands necessary to end systemic racism in the criminal justice system and voter suppression in Georgia.”
Brooks, 27, was shot by an officer Friday night at a Wendy’s in Atlanta as law enforcement attempted to arrest him on suspicion of driving under the influence. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a press conference that Brooks grabbed an officer’s taser as they attempted to handcuff him and appeared to fire the taser at one of the officers. The officer then shot Brooks. The officer has been terminated, and Atlanta’s police chief stepped down. Bottoms said she believes “there is a clear distinction between what you can do and what you should do. I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force.”
An investigator from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the cause of death was determined to be “gunshot wounds of the back” and listed the death as a homicide.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard released a statement on Sunday that his office is “working around the clock to bring this investigation to a conclusion” and hopes to announce a decision this week.
Howard said additional evidence is needed before a decision can be made and his office is “still experiencing some difficulty” in obtaining dash and body cam footage from the Atlanta Police Department.
