Medical examiner report: Rayshard Brooks was shot in the back, manner of death a homicide
Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man who was shot and killed by Atlanta police outside of a Wendy's on Friday night, sustained organ damage and blood loss from two gunshot wounds to the back, the Fulton County Medical Examiner said Sunday night.
The manner of death has been ruled a homicide. Brooks was found asleep inside his car while in the Wendy's drive-thru, and failed a sobriety test. Police said after resisting arrest, he grabbed an officer's taser and ran away. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation alleges he aimed the device at police before Officer Garret Rolfe opened fire. Rolfe was fired on Saturday, and a second officer who was at the scene, Devin Brosnan, has been placed on administrative leave. Protesters have been out in force since Saturday night to call attention to Brooks' death.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told CNN on Sunday that three charges could be filed against Rolfe: murder, felony murder, or aggravated assault. "[Brooks] did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable," he said. "It just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone's death."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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