The Fulton County District Attorney intends to bring charges on the officer involved in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and told CNN he intends to announce a decision on Wednesday.
“(Brooks) 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,” DA Paul Howard told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday.
“It just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone’s death.”
Brooks, 27, was shot after police moved to handcuff him for suspected driving under the influence, according to videos from the scene. The videos show that Brooks took an officer’s Taser during the attempted arrest and then fired the Taser at the officers as he ran away.
One officer then fatally shot Brooks three times with his service weapon, authorities said.
The killing sparked protests and riots including the burning down of the Wendy’s on Saturday night.
The violence occurred just hours after Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned.
On Saturday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she did not believe Brooks’ death was a justified use of deadly force.
“While there may be debate as to whether this was an appropriate use of deadly force, I firmly believe that there is a distinction between what you can do and what you should do,” Bottoms said.
Garrett Rolfe, the officer who killed Brooks, was terminated Saturday, police said, and a second officer involved in the killing, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative duty. Rolfe was hired in 2013 and Brosnan has been with the department since 2018, police said.
Howard, the district attorney, said the possible charges could include murder, felony murder or involuntary manslaughter.
“Specifically, (the question is if) Officer Rolfe, whether or not he felt that Mr. Brooks, at the time, presented imminent harm of death or some serious physical injury. Or the alternative is whether or not he fired the shot simply to capture him or some other reason,” Howard said. “If that shot was fired for some reason other than to save that officer’s life or to prevent injury to him or others, then that shooting is not justified under the law.”
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