Protesters flooded streets of southeast Atlanta Saturday night, angry over the deadly police-involved shooting of a black man at a fast-food restaurant the night before. The protesters surrounded the Wendy’s where 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was shot and then made their way to nearby Interstate 75/85, bringing the major thoroughfare to a standstill.The Wendy’s where Brooks lost his life was in flames Saturday night, and a crowd also set fire to automobiles near the fast-food restaurant. Earlier in the day, police used tear gas and a flash bang to try to clear the crowd there.The chaos came after Atlanta’s police chief stepped down and the mayor called for the officer who shot Brooks to be fired.
Brooks was shot in the Wendy’s parking lot Friday night after he scuffled with officers and ran away with one of their stun guns, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The incident began with a call to police at 10:33 p.m. Friday about a man sleeping in a parked vehicle in the restaurant’s drive-thru lane, causing other customers to drive around it, the GBI said in a statement.Police gave Brooks a field sobriety test, which he failed, the GBI said. He resisted arrest and struggled with officers, the GBI said.GBI Director Vic Reynolds said Saturday that his department obtained surveillance video of the incident from Wendy’s and reviewed video that witnesses posted on social media.
The video from the eyewitness begins in the middle of the struggle between Brooks and two police officers. In the video, an officer is heard telling Brooks to “stop fighting” and “hands off the taser.” The eyewitness told CNN that by the time they arrived on the scene, Brooks’ car was parked in a parking spot.”The fight started when they tried to make an arrest … after that he took a taser and took off,” the witness said.As the scuffle broke up, the video shows Brooks beginning to run from the officers and he is seen holding what appears to be a stun gun in his right hand. It appears one of the officers fires their stun gun at Brooks three times as he runs away.Witnesses told GBI investigators that Brooks had one of the officer’s stun guns.Shortly after Brooks and one of the officers run by the car of the eyewitness taking the video, a second officer runs by, following Brooks.Three shots are then heard out of frame.