The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
■ Prominent voices such as the Rev. Bernice King weigh in on Brooks’ death.
The Atlanta shooting has become part of a national conversation.
By Saturday night, protesters outraged over Friday’s fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks had temporarily shut the Downtown Connector, and the Wendy’s where Brooks was shot by an Atlanta police officer was in flames.
By Sunday morning, his death had become part of a national conversation on racial justice and police departments’ use of force, with prominent political, civic and cultural figures from throughout Atlanta and across the country speaking out.
“We are deeply saddened yet again by another senseless shooting death, this time of Rayshard Brooks,” a statement from Urban League of Greater Atlanta President and CEO Nancy Flake Johnson said. “Our anguish runs deep through our souls, and we ask how many more lives will be lost before the killing stops. Mr. Brooks, at 27 years old, is now another victim in the painfully long list of black men and women brutally killed by police using excessive force instead of de-escalation tactics in their interactions with people in black and brown communities. This should have been a ‘wellness check’ instead of an arrest.”
A 911 call reporting Brooks asleep in his car, blocking the drive-thru lane, summoned officers to the restaurant near downtown.
ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young said in a statement that the group grieves with Brooks’ family “and with the community in Atlanta already reeling from the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many other victims of systemic racism in America.”
Garrett Rolfe, who has been fired, was the officer who shot Brooks after a struggle in the Wendy’s parking lot during which Brooks was able to grab an officer’s Taser. The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for Rolfe to be arrested.
“A Taser is not a deadly weapon and shooting a man multiple times in the back while he’s running away is the epitome of police brutality,” CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Abdullah Jaber said in a statement.
The GBI and Fulton County District Attorney’s Office are investigating.
“We are working around the clock to bring this investigation to a conclusion, and it is my hope to be able to announce our decision midweek,” DA Paul Howard said in a statement issued Sunday.
The Rev. Bernice King and outgoing Atlanta schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen both highlighted Brooks’ family. He leaves behind three daughters and a stepson.
“Rayshard Brooks’ daughter was waiting for him to come home to celebrate her birthday,” King said in a social media post. “But her father is not coming home. That’s devastating. My heart goes out to his family.”
King was 5 when her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee.
Carstarphen called on community members to contribute to a GoFundMe campaign set up to help Brooks’ children and their mother.
“Mr. Rayshard Brooks is survived by family members who are in mourning, as are we all,” she said in a social media post.
Several entertainers with ties to Atlanta spoke out on social media.
“Guess this is what it takes,” said rapper and actor Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. The artist, whose film credits include Atlanta-shot “Den of Thieves,” was commenting on a photo of demonstrators standing on I-75.
Kim Kardashian, who filmed a role for Tyler Perry’s “Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor” here, urged supporters to sign a petition raising awareness about Brooks.
Former Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang addressed the shooting. Warren praised the swift action of Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who announced during a Saturday evening news conference that Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields had stepped aside.
“Mayor Bottoms is right to respond quickly to the death of Rayshard Brooks,” Warren said.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, said circumstances surrounding Brooks’ death differed from those of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd died after police Officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee. Now fired, Chauvin faces second-degree murder charges.
“Whatever the Atlanta shooting is, it is not the George Floyd case,” Giuliani said in a social media post. “This video appears to present circumstances which may justify this use of force. The only responsible position is to suspend judgment until a full investigation is done.”
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson discussed the case during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We don’t know what was in the mind of the officer when someone turns around and points a weapon at him,” Carson said. “Is he absolutely sure that’s a nonlethal weapon? This is not a clearcut circumstance.”