ATLANTA — A prosecutor overseeing the January law enforcement shooting of Manuel Paez Teran, an activist who had been camped out in the South River Forest opposing the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, has determined the shooting was "objectively reasonable" and that there will be no charges against the six Georgia State Patrol troopers who were primarily involved.
George R. Christian, a north Georgia district attorney who took oversight of the shooting incident when DeKalb D.A. Sherry Boston recused her office from the Teran case (she later recused her office from all public safety training center cases), released his findings Friday in a 31-page report.
Christian determined that troopers, upon encountering Teran in a tent in the woods on Jan. 18, 2023, gave advanced notice of intent to use a "less lethal" way to force the activist out the tent: a pepperball launcher. Christian's report states that Teran "refused to comply with the lawful commands" to leave the tent, and that Teran ultimately shot four times at the troopers from inside the tent after the pepperballs were fired.
Teran was killed in the return fire, the report states, struck with at least 57 gunshot wounds.
The death of the activist earlier this year had a mushrooming effect on the protest movement against the training center, which opponents call "Cop City." Teran's family and the activist community have stridently opposed the official narrative that Teran shot first, describing them (Teran used nonbinary pronouns) as a pacifist and suggesting a trooper shot in the incident was hit by "friendly fire."
In a release, attorneys for Teran's family called the report a "rubber stamp of the GBI's version of events without any critical analysis" and contended the DA was not being forthcoming with evidence, now that the report has been released.
“If there is nothing to hide, then show us the evidence,” family attorney Jeff Filipovits said in a statement. “We were told that once the DA’s report was released, the GBI would release all of the underlying evidence. But now, the District Attorney has stated that his office will not produce the underlying evidence.”
A release issued Friday, signed by Christian, stated no additional records would be released at this time citing a "pending criminal investigation and prosecution by the State of Georgia, Attorney General's Office" and noted records requests would be denied "until such time as the above investigation and prosecution is not pending."
Georgia AG Chris Carr announced a 60+ defendant RICO indictment in September related to the "Stop Cop City" movement.
The report released by Christian contains the accounts of the six troopers who were on scene when they encountered Teran during a clearing operation in the forest. There had been previous clearing operations, as activists had been occupying the forest on-and-off for months to oppose the training center.
The trooper accounts describe finding Teran at the tent and telling the activist to come out. They describe varying responses allegedly made by Teran, with one trooper describing them saying, "This is my zone." Another reported hearing Teran say, "I am not coming out" and another described Teran as saying, "I'm not leaving."
At least three of the accounts describe a tent flap that was still partially open at this point, with Teran and the troopers communicating, before Teran allegedly zipped it up; officers fired the pepperballs after.
The troopers' accounts then describe what transpired next: the gunfire happening immediately after the firing of the pepperballs, the troopers' actions to return fire, what several described as a small "improvised explosion" at the front of the tent as the gunfire broke out and then the varying responses to help the injured trooper or clear the scene.
To this point, bodycam video from Atlanta Police Department officers who were nearby as part of the clearing operation -- but not directly at the scene -- has offered the only window into what happened. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also previously provided photos of a gun they say was used in the shooting and said a ballistic analysis showed a projectile recovered from the trooper's wound matched gun tied to Teran through purchase records.
The APD bodycams have left unresolved exactly what happened, offering audio of the moment the shooting broke out but no visual of the scene itself.
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Troopers, as state law enforcement agents, do not wear bodycams. Christian's report reveals however that the APD bodycams were not the only ones on scene -- Georgia Department of Natural Resources game wardens were also in the area with bodycams.
"The audio portion of several individual body cameras recorded the sequence of first, the use of less lethal force (pepper ball launcher), followed by (four) gun shots fired by Teran, and then followed by gunshots from the six (6) GSP SWAT team members," the report states.
The report further describes the items that were found at Teran's tent, alleging a flashbang device and multiple cartridge cases and a magazine were on scene.
The report notes, as previously reported by the family and activists, that gunpowder residue was not observed on Teran's hands in the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's autopsy. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation later stated its own testing showed "particles of gunshot primer residue" were found on a sample taken from the hands.
Shortly after the release of the APD videos, protesters on social media began focusing on one moment in the video footage where an officer -- following the gunfire in the distance -- is heard saying, "You f***** your own officer up."
“Why would an officer say, 'man you f***** your own officer?'" Timothee Corey, a protester, told 11Alive in February. "That can only mean one thing, it means that the GSP officers accidentally shot one another."
After that release, the Atlanta Police Department countered that narrative, stating: "In reviewing our officers' Body Worn Cameras footage, it is apparent the shooting situation evolved quickly and our officers had no immediate knowledge of the events at the shooting site at the time the shooting occurred. Several responding officers are heard commenting about the shooting as they approached the site. We have found no evidence to suggest these officers had any information on the events surrounding the shooting prior to their comments."
The report released Friday does not address statements or accounts by Atlanta Police Department officers.
Christian's report outlines his legal reasoning for why the shooting was justified, addressing each of the six troopers' cases and stating for each of them that, "Looking at the totality of the circumstances the use of lethal (deadly) force was objectively reasonable" and the troopers "did not act with any criminal intent."
"No criminal charges will be brought," against each trooper, the report concludes six times, as they "did not commit any criminal offense."