Topline
Georgia State Police officers who fatally shot an activist protesting the city’s so-called Cop City police training facility outside Atlanta will not face criminal charges, state prosecutors announced Friday, following months of protests from civil rights and environmental activists over fears the state is escalating its police presence, and clear-cutting a densely forested area to do so.
Key Facts
Officers’ use of deadly force “was objectively reasonable under the circumstances,” according to Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian, who said charges will not be brought against any of the nine officers involved (two officers did not fire their weapons).
The state Bureau of Investigation also released a statement on Friday saying no charges would be brought against any of the troopers involved in the shooting.
The announcement comes nearly nine months after 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, an environmental activist, was killed during a police operation to identify trespassers on the site, according to state officials, though an independent autopsy found Teran’s hands were raised at the time of the fatal shooting.
Officers involved initially used a “less lethal” pepperball launcher in their effort to remove Teran from a tent on the construction site, prompting Teran to return fire with a 9-millimeter pistol, shooting one state police officer and sparking a volley from police that immediately killed Teran, according to police.
Tangent
According to a statement from police after the shooting, police spotted Teran in a tent in the woods, telling the activist to comply with officers, at which point Teran shot one State Patrol officer. Officers then returned fire, striking Teran, who died on the scene. The wounded officer was transported to a local hospital.
Key Background
A lease agreement for the facility was approved in September 2021 by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, setting aside more than 85 acres in the Weelaunee Forest outside the city for the Atlanta Police Foundation. The agreement sparked protests over both environmental concerns and fears it would lead to police escalation. Just days after Teran’s killing in January, police arrested six activists on arson and domestic terrorism charges, following clashes between police and protesters that turned violent. Two months later, police arrested another 35 protesters in March after protesters approached the construction site, with police claiming a “group of violent agitators” trespassed onto the facility under the “cover of a peaceful protest,” and threw bricks, rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at officers—Environmental group Defend the Atlanta Forest argued the protesters were “peaceful concert goers who were nowhere near the demonstration.” Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) declared a temporary state of emergency earlier this year, over an “unlawful assemblage,” violent threats and danger to life and property, calling in 1,000 state National Guard troops.
Further Reading
Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Protests Explained: An Activist Slain By Police And Georgia’s State Of Emergency (Forbes)
35 Arrested After Protests At Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ (Forbes)
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