ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta’s police chief resigned Saturday hours after a black man was fatally shot by officers in a struggle following a field sobriety test. Authorities said the slain man had grabbed an officer’s Taser, but was running away when he was shot.

Police Chief Erika Shields stepped down as the killing of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks sparked a new wave of protests in Atlanta after turbulent demonstrations that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis had simmered down.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the police chief’s resignation at a Saturday news conference as roughly 150 people marched outside the Wendy’s restaurant where Brooks was fatally shot late Friday. The mayor also called for the immediate firing of the unidentified officer who opened fire at Brooks.

“I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer,” Bottoms said.

She said it was Shields’ own decision to step aside as police chief and that she would remain with the city in an undetermined role. Interim Corrections Chief Rodney Bryant would serve as interim police chief until a permanent replacement is found.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, said the deadly confrontation started with officers responding to a complaint that a man was sleeping in a car blocking the restaurant’s drive-thru lane. The GBI said Brooks failed a field sobriety test and then resisted officers’ attempts to arrest him.

The GBI released security camera video of the shooting Saturday. The footage shows a man running from two police officers as he raises a hand, which is holding some type of object, toward an officer a few steps behind him. The officer draws his gun and fires as the man keeps running, then falls to the ground in the parking lot.

GBI Director Vic Reynolds said Brooks had grabbed a Taser from one of the officers and appeared to point it at the officer as he fled, prompting the officer to reach for his gun.

The security camera video does not show Brooks’ initial struggle with police.

L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Brooks’ family, said the officer who shot him should be charged for “an unjustified use of deadly force, which equals murder.”

“You can’t have it both ways in law enforcement,” Stewart said. “You can’t say a Taser is a nonlethal weapon … but when an African American grabs it and runs with it, now it’s some kind of deadly, lethal weapon that calls for you to unload on somebody.”

He said Brooks was a father of four and had celebrated a daughter’s eighth birthday Friday before he was killed.

The shooting came at a time of heightened tension over police brutality and calls for reforms across the U.S. following the May 25 death of Floyd in Minneapolis. Atlanta was among U.S. cities where large crowds of protesters took to the streets.

Demonstrators, including members of Brooks’ family, gathered Saturday outside the restaurant where he was shot. There was a short, tense standoff with Georgia state troopers who lined up to block protesters as they tried to march onto a nearby highway. The demonstrators eventually turned away.

Among those protesting was Crystal Brooks, who said she is Rayshard Brooks’ sister-in-law.

“He wasn’t causing anyone any harm,” she said. “The police went up to the car and even though the car was parked they pulled him out of the car and started tussling with him.”

She added: “He did grab the Taser, but he just grabbed the Taser and ran.”

Shields, Atlanta’s police chief for less than four years, was initially praised in the days following Floyd’s death last month. She said the Minnesota officers involved should go to prison and walked into crowds of protesters in downtown Atlanta, telling demonstrators she understood their frustrations and fears. She appeared at Bottoms’ side as the mayor made an impassioned plea for protesters to go home when things turned violent with smashed storefronts and police cruisers set ablaze.

Days later, Shields fired two officers and benched three others caught on video May 30 in a hostile confrontation with two college students whose car was stuck in traffic caused by the protests. The officers fired Tasers at the pair and dragged them from the vehicle. When prosecutors later charged six of the officers involved, however, Shields openly questioned the charges.

The shooting of Brooks two weeks later raised further questions about the Atlanta department. In a statement, Shields said she chose to resign “out of a deep and abiding love for this city and this department.”

“It is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” Shields said.

Reynolds said his agents worked through the night interviewing witnesses and reviewing video. He said their findings show that Brooks tried to fight off two officers when they tried to arrest him and managed to take a Taser away from one of them.

A security camera recorded Brooks “running or fleeing from Atlanta police officers,” Reynolds said. “It appears that he has in his hand a Taser.”

During a short foot chase Brooks “turns around and it appears at that time he points a Taser at an Atlanta officer,” Reynolds said. That’s when the officer drew his gun and shot Brooks, he said, estimating the officer fired three times.

Reynolds said his agents will turn over results of their investigation to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, whose office will decide whether criminal charges are warranted against either of the unidentified officers.

Howard said Saturday his office “has already launched an intense, independent investigation of the incident” without waiting for the GBI’s results.

Brooks died after being taken to an Atlanta hospital. One of the officers was treated and released for unspecified injuries.

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press writer Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/authorities-man-killed-atlanta-police-123407438.html

Photo Credit: currently.att.yahoo.com

A known criminal enterprise released a large set of stolen files, at least some of which appeared legitimate.

A cybercriminal gang that hacked a major entertainment law firm claims it will release information on President Donald Trump if it doesn’t receive $42 million in ransom.

The group, a known criminal enterprise, didn’t offer any proof it had information compromising to Trump. It did, however, release a large set of stolen files from the law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks. NBC News reviewed some of the documents and they appear legitimate.

The group uses ransomware — a type of malicious software — to break into a victim’s networks and encrypt them, demanding a fee to unlock them. If the victim doesn’t pay up, the group slowly leaks out unencrypted versions of files stolen from those networks to prompt payment.

The criminal group posted on its blog a threat to publish files related to Trump.

“The next person we’ll be publishing is Donald Trump. There’s an election race going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry on time,” the group wrote, giving a one week deadline. “And to you voters, we can let you know that after such a publication, you certainly don’t want to see him as president.”

Though the gang tends to release legitimately hacked files, they left no clue of whether they actually had compromising information on Trump, or whether this was a ploy to put more pressure on the law firm to pay.

“On the one hand, I think it’s bulls—,” said Brett Callow, who studies ransomware gangs at the antivirus company Emsisoft. “But on the other hand, getting a rep for bluffing isn’t helpful to extortionists. They need their victims to believe that their threats are real and will be carried through.”

The law firm did not respond to a request for comment, but told Rolling Stone: “Despite our substantial investment in state-of-the-art technology security, foreign cyberterrorists have hacked into our network and are demanding $42 million as ransom.”

The White House declined to comment.

Ransomware gangs have become a persistent threat to the U.S. in recent years, and law enforcement has had difficulty stopping them. In many cases, these groups operate out of Russia, which doesn’t extradite its citizens.

“We’re pretty sure these guys operate in Russia’s ‘locus of control,’” said Allan Liska, who tracks the gang for the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

But threatening to release files about Trump, who enjoys a cordial relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, might be a step too far, Liska said.

“If they release this stuff, it is possible they will have both U.S. Cyber Command and FSB targeting them,” Liska said, referring to Russia’s Federal Security Service. “Most Russian leadership leaves them alone as long as they don’t target Russian citizens. This would probably be an exception.”

Article via NBCNews