Protests and destruction erupted in Atlanta on Saturday night in response to the police-involved shooting death of a 27-year-old man outside a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant.
Television images showed the restaurant on fire around 9:30 p.m. ET as rioters filled the parking lot where Brooks was shot in the back by police after allegedly grabbing a stun gun away from an officer during a struggle.
Well that is done, the @Wendys is burning. #skyfox5 has shots of the drive thru is on fire. #fox5atl #AtlantaShooting #RayshardBrooks #protest2020 pic.twitter.com/Ak0Z1h6yuA
— Jim Zorn (@PhotoZorn_FOX5) June 14, 2020
There goes @Wendys on University Ave.
— Alex Whittler (@AlexWhittler) June 14, 2020
I had to step away for my own safety but here is a look at rioters right before they lit a firework in the Wendy's where #atlantapolice shot and killed #RayshardBrooks @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/rR0XdDkaBk
#UPDATE Police and fire just arrived at Wendy's which is steadily blazing from the inside @FOX5Atlanta https://t.co/5GyvNd39BR pic.twitter.com/4YS1wSkNbB
— Alex Whittler (@AlexWhittler) June 14, 2020
Nearby, protesters were gathering along University Avenue, with Atlanta police blocking access ramps to Interstate 85, apparently to keep the protesters off the roadway, 360aproko reported.
Protesters at the @Wendys that #RayshardBrooks was shot in front of. The interstate is #shutdown and fires have been set. #atlprotests #fox5atl #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/utZX0PgMzi
— Jim Zorn (@PhotoZorn_FOX5) June 14, 2020
Earlier Saturday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that police Chief Erika Shields had resigned from the top job, though the mayor said Shields would remain with the department.
“I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force,” Bottoms said.
Protesters had painted “Defund the police” in the street outside Atlanta police headquarters.
The unrest in Atlanta came as the entire nation continued to be in a state of disruption regarding police relationships with African-Americans and other minority communities following the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
In the Atlanta incident, police had been called late Friday about a man allegedly sleeping in a car that was blocking a Wendy’s restaurant drive-thru. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was investigating reports that the man, later identified as Brooks, had failed a sobriety test and was shot in a struggle over the stun gun.
Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who gained national prominence running for governor in 2018, tweeted that “sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death.”
The killing of #RayshardBrooks in Atlanta last night demands we severely restrict the use of deadly force. Yes, investigations must be called for – but so too should accountability.
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) June 13, 2020
Sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death. https://t.co/LKsiwA48Ll
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a statement saying the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe of the incident that led to Brooks’s death.
At the @Atlanta_Police Department’s request, the @GBI_GA launched an investigation into the conduct of two APD officers that led to the death of #RayshardBrooks. I am confident GBI Director Vic Reynolds and his team will follow the facts to ensure justice is served. (1/2) https://t.co/Ck1V85qw9I
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) June 13, 2020
“I am confident GBI Director Vic Reynolds and his team will follow the facts to ensure justice is served,” Kemp wrote.
