Georgia Tech police kill school LGBT leader who apparently had a knife

Georgia Tech student shot by police — (Image credit: iStock)

Scout Schultz, a 21-year-old computer engineering student and leader of the Georgia Tech Pride Alliance, died early Sunday after being shot in the heart by a Georgia Tech police officer, in an incident that is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The police officers found Scout, who identified as neither male nor female, when responding to a report Saturday night about a "person with a knife and a gun," the GBI said, though Schultz did not have a gun and a photo of Schultz's pocket knife taken after the shooting shows that the blade was not extended, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Video taken of the encounter from a dorm window shows Schultz approaching police officers, refusing to heed demands to stop and drop a weapon, and Schultz shouting "Shoot me!" moments before one of the officers did. Schultz's mother, Lynne Schultz, said Scout was a "scary smart" student with numerous medical issues, including depression and a suicide attempt two years ago, but she told the Journal-Constitution that she did not understand why the police didn't "use some nonlethal force, like pepper spray or Tasers." Chris Stewart, a lawyer for Scout Shultz's parents, said he thinks that Scout "was having a mental breakdown and didn't know what to do," and that this was not a case of "suicide by cop." So far this year, police have shot dead about 700 people in the U.S., The Washington Post notes.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.