Family of activist killed near Atlanta Public Safety Training Center site releases private autopsy results

ATLANTA - The parents of an environmental activist shot and killed by Georgia State Patrol troopers during a clearing operation on the site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center have released the results of a private autopsy on their son Monday morning.

At a press conference in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse, Decatur-based civil rights attorneys Brian Spears and Jeff Filipovits called on the GBI and law enforcement agencies to work with the family of 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, who went by the name Tortuguita, and release the investigative report.

The GBI has said officers killed Terán in self-defense on Jan. 18 after the protester shot a state trooper while multiple law enforcement agencies cleared activists from the forested site of the training center, which critics have nicknamed "Cop City."

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However, the family has disputed that claim, saying the investigators have withheld information about the shooting.

The family filed a lawsuit last week against the city of Atlanta under the Georgia Open Records Act. The suit alleges the Georgia Bureau of Investigation asked the Atlanta Police Department to not release further body camera video from that operation, as originally promised, leaving the family no option but to suit in an attempt to get to the truth.

"The only people who know what happened in the forest that day are the officers who were present and the GBI, who is investigating," Filipovits said.

"During its investigation, the GBI has selectively released information framing its narrative while actively preventing Manuel’s family from obtaining any information," said Filipovits. "The GBI will not even tell us what type of evidence it has. Now, it says that the City of Atlanta cannot release the public records sought by Manuel’s family."

According to the lawyers, the private autopsy revealed that Teran had been shot 14 separate times in various locations, including the head through their right eye, left upper chest, abdomen, arms and legs. The wounds indicated that the protestor's left arm and hand were raised with the palm facing forward during the shooting, the attorneys said.

"Manuel was looking death in the face, hands raised, when killed," Spears said.

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Speaking at the press conference, Teran's mother Belkis Teran reacted to the news that her child was probably killed while in a cross-legged position.

"I never thought that Manuel could die in a meditation position. My heart is destroyed," she said.

The lawyers asked the GBI to meet with the family and end what they called a "coordinated campaign" to keep the City of Atlanta from releasing more information connected to Teran's death.

The GBI claims the decision to not share the investigative report is to prevent the inappropriate release of evidence and preserve the integrity of the investigation.

"All the facts, to include any information brought forward by the family’s attorney, will be assessed along with all other investigative information by the special prosecutor," a spokesperson for the GBI said in a statement on Friday. "The GBI cannot and will not attempt to sway public opinion in this case but will continue to be led by the facts and truth. We understand the extreme emotion that this has caused Teran’s family and will continue to investigate as comprehensively as possible."

Autopsy results in death of Manuel Teran

According to the law enforcement narrative, Teran was inside a tent in Intrenchment Creek Park during the January raid. The official autopsy conducted by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office said Teran was shot 13 times by multiple different guns.

The family’s independent autopsy report concluded Teran’s hands were raised and facing multiple individuals at the time of the shooting.

"Both Manuel’s left and right hands show exit wounds in both palms. The autopsy further reveals that Manuel was most probably in a seated position, cross-legged when killed," the family’s attorney expressed in a release sent Friday.

The GBI said Teran did not comply with officers’ orders, leading to an "exchange of gunfire," first striking a Georgia State Trooper, who survived.

According to the GBI, no bodycam or dashcam footage of the shooting exists, and that ballistics evidence shows that the injured trooper was shot with a bullet from a gun that Tortuguita had legally purchased in 2020. With no video, activists and family members say they are skeptical of that narrative.

The Georgia State Patrol, as a rule, does not have body-worn cameras recording encounters, only dash cams. The exception for troopers in Jekyll Island and at the Georgia Capitol.

Manuel Teran accused of firing at troopers

During that fatal Jan. 18 incident, Teran is accused of firing at troopers "without warning," wounding one. Teran died after several other troopers returned fire, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

The injured trooper, whose name has not been released, was shot in the "pelvic-area" and he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

A photo of the gun was quickly released by investigations and GBI released records that show Teran legally bought the gun in 2020. The GBI said fragments from the gun match ballistics tests of the firearm.

However, lawyers for Teran’s family point to a statement made by Atlanta police officers in the videos that were released which suggests there was friendly fire.

In the recording, one of the officers, seemingly reacting to the radio traffic, says, "You (expletive) your own officer up … Did they shoot their own man?"

The GBI acknowledged that in the videos, "at least one statement exists where an officer speculates that the Trooper was shot by another officer in crossfire." But said, "Speculation is not evidence. Our investigation does not support that statement."

Who was Manuel Teran aka Tortugita?

Manuel Teran’s mother, Belkin Teran, described her child as a scholar and environmentalist who was an intellectual and had good manners.

The protestor mother says he was very active in several international environmental programs and was there to defend the forest.

Joel Paez described his child as someone who was also caring for others, including those who were indigent or homeless. 

"Manuel was the one who will stop in the middle of the street and give $100 to a needy person," he said.

"I don't really have many friends, and I was just fine with Manny, even though I had to share Manny to their cause. I loved him so much, and now my family is being put through this," said the protestor's brother.

Teran was one of dozens of activists who had been occupying the site in tents and tree houses to stop the construction of the training center because they believe the forest space is critical – and the training center will further what they call cops’ "urban warfare tactics" toward the public.

Their death prompted a large Jan. 21 demonstration in downtown Atlanta that erupted into violence as a masked contingent lit a police cruiser on fire, threw rocks, and launched fireworks at a skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation, shattering windows. No injuries were reported, but six people were arrested that night and charged with domestic terrorism.

What is the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center? 

In addition to classrooms and administration buildings, the proposed $90-million police and firefighter training center would include a shooting range, a driving course to practice chases, and a "burn building" for firefighters to work on putting out fires. A "mock village" featuring a fake home, convenience store, and nightclub would also be built for authorities to rehearse raids.

The 85-acre property is owned by the city of Atlanta but is located just outside the city limits in unincorporated DeKalb County, and includes a former state prison farm.

Police officials say the state-of-the-art campus would replace substandard offerings and boost police morale beset by hiring and retention struggles in the wake of violent protests against racial injustice after George Floyd’s death in 2020.

Opponents of the training center have been protesting since 2021 by building platforms in surrounding trees and camping out at the site. They say that the project, which would be built by the Atlanta Police Foundation, involves cutting down so many trees that it would be environmentally damaging. Many activists also oppose spending so much money on a police facility that would be surrounded by poor, majority-Black neighborhoods in a city with one of the nation’s highest degrees of wealth inequality.

FOX 5 put together a full timeline of the progression of protests over the past two years, including Teran's death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.