ATLANTA _ Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Saturday that police Chief Erika Shields is stepping aside and the city will launch a search for her replacement.
Bottoms said Shields offered her resignation, which the mayor accepted. Bottoms also called for the termination of the police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks on Friday.
"I do not believe this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer," the mayor said, at a Saturday afternoon news conference.
Atlanta protesters took to the streets for the third weekend with added outrage after Brooks, a 27-year-old black man,was shot and killed at a Wendy's amid a struggle with police.
By Saturday afternoon, the president of the Georgia NAACP called for Shields' termination and condemned the silence of Bottoms. The mayor later made her first remarks on the shooting at a news conference just after 5 p.m.
The Atlanta police shooting follows weeks of protests around metro Atlanta and across the country over racial injustice and police brutality. Demonstrators across the nation have called for police reforms after the death George Floyd, a black man, while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Saturday in Atlanta, protesters blocked off University Avenue and some tried to make their way to I-75. Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd, who joined the crowd gathering outside the restaurant, said she saw the video and did not believe the shooting was justified. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
The incident began Friday about 10:30 p.m. outside the fast food chain on University Avenue, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said. Officers were called to the restaurant after receiving a complaint about a man asleep in his vehicle, which forced other customers to go around his car to get their food at the window. The man, Brooks, was given a field sobriety test, which he reportedly failed, according to the GBI.
"After failing the test, the officers attempted to place the male subject into custody," Miles said. "During the arrest, the male subject resisted and a struggle ensued. The officer deployed a Taser."
According to police, Brooks managed to take the Taser away from the officer before being shot. He was taken to the hospital and later died, Miles said.
Cellphone video apparently captured by a Wendy's customer appears to show two officers struggling with Brooks in the parking lot. He appeared to be running away from the police when he was fatally shot.
Additional details surrounding Friday night's shooting are unclear. The GBI said an Atlanta officer involved in the incident suffered minor injuries. That officer was treated at the hospital and released. In a tweet, the GBI also said it is aware of the cellphone video circulating online and reviewing the footage as part of its investigation.
The incident marks the 48th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate this year. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don't involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI's tally.
