A Georgia special prosecutor announced Tuesday that murder and assault charges will be dismissed against two Atlanta police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks in June 2020, saying the officers acted reasonably in response to a deadly threat.
“Both acted as reasonable officers would under the facts and circumstances of the events of that night,” special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis said. “Both acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force regarding the situation.”
The announcement comes two years after Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was shot and killed outside a Wendy’s restaurant after he fought two officers who tried to arrest him for DUI. During the struggle, Brooks overpowered officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan, took a Taser from Brosnan and ran away, according to prosecutors. While fleeing, he turned back and fired the stolen Taser at Rolfe, who then shot Brooks twice, in the back and buttocks, killing him, prosecutors said.
The incident was extensively captured on video, including bodycam footage, Wendy’s surveillance video and witness cellphone video.
The fatal shooting – less than three weeks after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis – sparked protests across Atlanta and beyond amid national demonstrations over police brutality and racial injustice. In Atlanta, the Wendy’s restaurant was set ablaze, hundreds blocked a major interstate, authorities fired tear gas and the police chief stepped down.
Five days after the shooting, then-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced charges against Rolfe of felony murder, aggravated assault, violations of oath of office and criminal damage to property. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.
Howard, who campaigned on the case, lost his reelection bid months later, and the new district attorney Fani Willis asked to be recused from the case. The state attorney general last year appointed Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, to take over the investigation.
In the news conference Tuesday, Skandalakis and former Gwinnett County District Attorney Daniel Porter presented video of the incident and provided a frame-by-frame analysis of the fatal encounter.
