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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
August 24 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Putin at Donald Trump's circus, gallons of whitewash, and a foldable cartoon
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
