A wave of public outrage in Atlanta over the police killing of black man, Rayshard Brooks, has escalated into riots, with protesters blocking streets and setting fire to a Wendy’s restaurant where the fatal shooting took place.
The resignation of Atlanta police chief Erika Shields’ and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ call for the “immediate termination of the officer” who killed Brooks, failed to quell the protests which turned violent on Saturday night.
Fire at Wendy's on University Ave in southwest Atlanta raging. A night to remember in Atlanta: Rayshard Brooks shot by an officer, the chief of Atlanta police resigned, and protesters stormed the interstate. Now, fire. #AtlantaShooting#AtlantaProtestpic.twitter.com/Fgjq7jhDiZ
A massive crowd of protesters shut down I-75/85 at University Ave, marching towards the parking lot of the fast food restaurant where the Friday shooting took place.
BREAKING: The Wendy's in Atlanta on University Avenue is engulfed in flames. THIS IS NOT GOOD.
Holding Wendy’s somewhat responsible for the fatal incident, protesters torched the drive-through, which is located ‘dangerously close’ to a gas station.
Employees at the restaurant apparently were the ones who initially called police about the ‘suspicious’ man sleeping in his car. Brooks allegedly failed a field sobriety test, and actively resisted when police tried to place him in custody, according to a video of the struggle circulating online.
Another video from a surveillance camera released by authorities showed that while Brooks was indeed shot while attempting to flee – he wasn’t unarmed and was aiming a taser he snatched from an officer back at his pursuers.
The fatal police-involved shooting triggered a new round of protests over police racism and extrajudicial killings. Since George Floyd’s death in a botched chokehold arrest attempt in May in Minneapolis, protests over police brutality and racial inequality have swept across all major US cities.
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