ATLANTA — The parents of slain activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran called on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Monday to provide answers about the events leading up to the activist’s death last month.
Paez Teran — who went by “Tortuguita” — along with other activists was protesting the proposed building of a large police training center in a forest in southern DeKalb County. Groups critical of the police and environmentalists have opposed the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, or “Cop City,” since 2021 by setting up encampments in the 85-acre forest.
On Jan. 18, a law enforcement “clearing operation” turned violent. A Georgia State Patrol officer was shot and seriously wounded and Paez Teran was shot and killed.
A private autopsy commissioned by the family indicated that 26-year-old Paez Teran was shot at least 12 times by several different firearms, attorney Brian Spears said Monday.
“Multiple officers riddled his body with bullets,” Spears said.
There is no camera footage of the event because none of the officers present were wearing body cameras, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said last month. Bodycam footage of the aftermath does exist.
The attorneys called on the GBI and other law enforcement agencies to release any and all audio and video footage — including drone and helicopter footage — of the events of Jan. 18.
“Manuel is dead. You cannot charge a dead person with a crime,” Spears said. “There is no reason to withhold this information and there is no reason to not be transparent.
“There needs to be an independent and unbiased investigation into the entire circumstances that should focus not only on whatever shooting may have been done by our young deceased, but also by the officers. We’re here today because we need facts,” Spears said.
The GBI’s Miles said Monday “We…
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