A special prosecutor will not charge the six Georgia State Patrol troopers who shot and killed an environmental protestor at the proposed site for the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, who went by “Tortuguita” and used they/them pronouns, was shot and killed by six Georgia State Troopers on Jan. 18 as officers raided campgrounds occupied by environmental demonstrators who had allegedly been camping out for months to protest the development of the training center, dubbed “Cop City” by critics.
After months of investigating, the Stone Mountain Circuit District Attorney’s Office says the troopers’ use of lethal force was “objectively reasonable under the circumstances of the case.”
The most likely scenario is the police threatened him with violence, and they started shooting pepper balls at the tent he thought they were shooting bullets and he returned fire.