Black Georgia sheriff says shooting of Rayshard Brooks by Atlanta police was ‘completely justified’

(CNN)One day before charges could be filed against the ex-officer who killed Rayshard Brooks, a black Georgia sheriff said the shooting was justified.

Brooks, 27, was killed by an Atlanta police officer Friday night outside a Wendy’s restaurant after failing a sobriety test, taking an officer’s Taser and running away.
That officer, Garrett Rolfe, was fired after footage showed him shooting at Brooks multiple times from the back as Brooks ran. A second officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, has been placed on administrative duty.
The Atlanta police chief promptly resigned. The mayor called the killing of the black man a “murder.”
But Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams said Rolfe’s actions were “completely justified.”
“We saw in the video that Brooks is engaged in a fight with the officers,” said Williams, whose county is about 160 miles east of Atlanta.
“Brooks is able to take a non-lethal weapon, a Taser, away from one of the officers, and he flees,” Williams said Tuesday. “Brooks turned back to the officers and fired the Taser.”

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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/us/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-shooting-tuesday/index.html