ATLANTA (CN) — Georgia prosecutors announced Friday that no charges will be brought against the state trooper who fatally shot a protester at the forested site where an Atlanta public safety training center is slated to be built.
George Christian, Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit district attorney, said in a press release that Georgia State Patrol's use of deadly force was "objectively reasonable under the circumstances" of the case.
Manuel “Tortuguita” Esteban Paez Terán was among those protesting the planned facility — dubbed "Cop City" by its opponents for its inclusion of a mock city to help first responders train, in addition to a firing range — which has been the center of a yearslong controversy that has drawn international criticism.
Terán was inside a tent in the South River Forest of Dekalb County along with dozens of others on Jan. 18 when a joint task force of local and state officers and investigators entered the site to clear the area. When the 26-year-old refused to come out of the tent as the troopers commanded, they used a pepperball launcher to force him out, the release states.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's report, Terán then fired four shots from a 9 mm pistol through the tent, striking and seriously injuring one of the officers. Six troopers returned fire, killing Terán.
It the first time in U.S. history that an environmental activist was killed by police while protesting.
Christian said any requests for records related to the case will be denied until it is resolved; there is a "pending criminal investigation and prosecution" by the attorney general's office, "including and related to the subject matter of this report."
He added, "there will be no additional information provided or comments about the report concerning the use of lethal force by the Georgia State Patrol."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not immediately make clear details surrounding the incident, drawing concerns and speculation of what actually happened from Terán's family and their civil rights attorneys. There is also no body camera footage of the shooting; the agency said its officers are not required to wear them, leaving many to question officers' initial narrative.
In February, the Atlanta Police Department publicly released its own 40-minute footage, at the request of the attorneys for Terán's family. It shows officers in the distance hearing four shots, followed by a brief pause before what sounds like multiple officers firing dozens of rounds in return.
According to a private autopsy commissioned by the family of the Venezuelan environmental activist and Florida State University student, he was shot at least 14 times from at least three different guns in multiple areas of the body, including his hands and head.
The DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office also conducted an autopsy that was released in April. It stated gunshot residue was “not seen” on Terán's hands. His body had at least 57 gunshot wounds, including entrance and exit wounds, as well as re-entry and re-exit, the report said.
Terán's death at the hands of law enforcement significantly increased the controversy surrounding the construction of what is set to be the nation's largest police training center, and which was already widely opposed by nearby residents, environmental activists and criminal justice reform advocates.
The 85-acre training facility is being led by the Atlanta Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization that claims to have “united the business and philanthropic community with the Atlanta Police Department." With an array of corporate donors, including Delta, Home Depot, Coca-Cola and UPS, the foundation says the $90 million project will be funded through a combination of private and public money, including an estimated $30 million from the city government.
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston recused herself from the investigation in June. Christian was tapped as special prosecutor to handle the findings of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia attorney general's investigation.
In June, Boston also recused her office from prosecuting any criminal cases related to the arrests of protesters opposing the facility's construction, citing prosecutorial differences with the attorney general's office on who should be charged, and what for.
Several protesters, a group that includes many college students and out-of-staters, have been arrested since December and charged with domestic terrorism — a severe charge that carries a minimum punishment of five years imprisonment.
The choice of charges has drawn criticism due to the wide differences in the reasons behind the arrests, as noted in the police reports. Individual accusations range from misdemeanor trespassing or raising bail funds to destruction of construction equipment and throwing projectiles at officers.
However Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr was undeterred from bringing a massive indictment under the state's expansive anti-racketeering statue last month against 61 individuals accused of being a part of an organization called "Defend the Atlanta Forest."
While a group of opponents seeking to put the fate of the facility's lease agreement on local ballots recently collected more than 116,000 signatures from Atlanta residents, their referendum effort remains in limbo as city officials said last month that they cannot begin the extensive signature verification process.
Atlanta city council officials said they are waiting on further clarification on whether the group missed the Aug. 21 deadline from the 11th Circuit, who paused the enforcement of a federal judge's order on Sept. 1 to extend the signature collection deadline.
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