One year later questions remain for family of Scout Schultz

ATLANTA - One year after the tragic death of a Georgia Tech student on campus, the student's father still wants answers.

"There's a tremendous amount of questions," said Bill Schultz.

Scout Schultz, 21, died September 16, 2017, after a confrontation with campus police.  According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Schultz called 911 to report an armed person on campus and gave officers a description that matched Schultz's appearance.  When officers arrived, they said Schultz had something in his hand and refused to comply with their commands to drop it.  The object turned out to be a multi-tool that contained a knife.

"This never should've happened," said L. Chris Stewart, an attorney representing the Schultz family.  "That officer didn't have the Crisis Intervention Training and didn't have a non-lethal weapon."

Georgia Tech has since instituted new policies for campus safety including requiring CIT training for all of its officers and equipping them with Tasers.

"On this, the one-year anniversary of Scout Schultz’s death, the Georgia Tech community continues to mourn the loss of a bright student and campus leader. While we remain deeply saddened by our loss, we are heartened by the substantive steps the Institute has taken to remember Scout and to chart a future course as described in “A Path Forward – Together,” an institution-wide initiative born in the wake of last year’s tragedy," Georgia Tech wrote in a statement to FOX 5 News.

Some of those steps include offering more mental health services for students and more resources for those in the LGBTQIA community, for which Schultz was a vocal advocate. 

"I do think Scout would be pleased that there's been some fairly dramatic changes in the way that GT relates to the community," said Bill Schultz.

Stewart, however, said he and the Schultz family plan to move forward with filing a lawsuit against Georgia Tech and the campus police department for allegedly violating Schultz's civil rights.

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday the case remains under investigation.

"We're still waiting on an answer from the district attorney's office on if he's going to charge this officer.  We can't get the file from the GBI or the investigation done by Tech until that answer comes out, but we just can't wait any longer.  So, we'll be filing the lawsuit in the next 60 days," Stewart explained.

According to Georgia Tech, the officer who shot Schultz remains on administrative duty.