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Fulton DA transfers Rayshard Brooks and Taniyah Pilgrim cases
District Attorney Fani Williams transferred the cases to the Georgia Attorney General's Office.
ATLANTA - Recently elected Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has transferred the case against a former Atlanta police officer charged in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks to the Office of the Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
Brooks, 27, was shot and killed the night of June 12 at a Wendy's restaurant along University Avenue in southeast Atlanta. The officers were called over complaints of a car blocking the restaurant’s drive-thru lane.
A struggle ensued between Brooks and former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe and Officer Devin Brosnan when they attempted to handcuff him, dashcam video showed. In the struggle, Brooks grabbed a Taser and ran, firing it at the officer, Former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said. Shots were fired at Brooks as he was running away, which were captured by a surveillance camera at the Wendy's.
An autopsy revealed Brooks was shot twice in the back.
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Garrett Rolfe (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)
Rolfe faces 11 charges, including felony murder and multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks. The felony murder charge against Rolfe, 27, carries life in prison or the death penalty if prosecutors decide to seek it.
FULL COVERAGE ON THE DEATH OF RAYSHARD BROOKS
Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys whose office is representing the Brooks family released a statement saying the family was not notified that the case was being transferred.
"On behalf of the family of Rayshard Brooks and our client Taniyah Pilgrim, we wanted to express our surprise in learning that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has transferred the criminal cases against the Atlanta police officers involved in the Brooks and Pilgrim cases to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. We are hopeful that Attorney General Carr will quickly reassign the cases to another District Attorney who will then use the full resources of their office to prosecute these officers. What’s most disappointing is that neither the family of Rayshard Brooks nor Taniyah Pilgrim, or their legal counsel, were advised of this move in advance."
Attorney General Carr's office can assign the case to another district attorney or keep the case in his office, or appoint a special prosecutor.
Longtime Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard was beaten by a large margin in a runoff last year against Willis. She had previously worked in Howard's office for 16 years.
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