BREAKING UPDATE: No charges for APD officers in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks
After more than two years, the two Atlanta police officers involved in the death of Rayshard Brooks will learn their fate today.
The special prosecutor overseeing the case will announce Tuesday afternoon whether he will pursue charges against the officers. Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, is expected to announce his decision at a 1:30 p.m. news conference in Morrow. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will be in attendance.
Brooks, 27, was shot and killed June 12, 2020, after Officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan tried to arrest him in the parking lot of a south Atlanta Wendy’s. The shooting set off protests at the restaurant, which was burned to the ground the following day.
During a tumultuous day in Atlanta, the city’s top cop at the time, police Chief Erika Shields, announced she was stepping down. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Rolfe had been fired.
Then, more details were released about what happened.
Brooks, who had been asleep at the wheel in a drive-thru line, punched Brosnan hard enough to cause a concussion and took his Taser when the officers tried to arrest him on a DUI charge, according to investigators.
As he ran from the scene, Brooks was seen aiming the Taser at Rolfe, firing once and missing. At that point, Rolfe fired three bullets at Brooks, hitting him twice in the back.
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At the time of the shooting, Brooks was on probation until 2026. The father of three daughters and one stepson had already served one year behind bars for a 2014 incident in which he yanked his wife against her will into another room. Brooks pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and child cruelty because his stepson witnessed the fight.
His killing came after weeks of intense demonstrations in Atlanta and across the country over George Floyd’s murder. The police shooting, captured on video, kicked off another wave of protests across the city that at times turned destructive.
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Five days after Brooks’ high-profile shooting, former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced criminal charges against both officers. Rolfe was charged with 11 counts, including felony murder. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath of office.
Rolfe was reinstated by the city’s Civil Service Board in May 2021 but remains on administrative leave.
The officers filed a federal lawsuit in June saying they were attacked by Brooks and had the right to use force to prevent him from “imminent use of unlawful force against them.”
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates on this developing story.
