by Atlanta police released body camera video Wednesday related to the fatal Jan. 18 shooting of an activist who was camped out to protest the construction of a police training center.
Two hours of footage showing law enforcement officers in Atlanta’s South River Forest has been released, but it does not show the moment a non-binary activist known as «Turtle» was shot by Georgia State Police.
The images come from body cameras worn by officers patrolling the woods but not in the immediate area of the shooting. In addition to Tortuguita’s death, a state trooper was also injured. In one video, a person can be heard saying, «Man, you fuck with your own officer.»
Last month, Mike Register, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the activist had opened fire and officers responded, resulting in the activist’s death. The GBI also said that ballistic analysis showed that the bullet fired at the officer matched the pistol owned by Tortuguita.
Other activists have claimed, however, that Tortuguita did not fire at the officers, but that the officer was unintentionally shot by another officer. Defend the Atlanta Forest protesters have said their sources on the ground heard multiple continuous «rapid fire» shots, not an exchange of fire.
The GBI dismissed the activists’ claims in a statement to NBC News on Thursday. “In those videos, there is at least one statement in which an officer speculates that the Trooper was shot by another officer in the crossfire. Speculation is not evidence,» the office said. «Our research does not support that claim.»
Before the shots are heard, video shows officers patrolling in the woods, examining and cutting down tents. Moments later, about 14 seconds of rapid gunfire can be heard in the distance. Shortly after, a person can be heard asking, «Is this target practice?»
Baby Turtle and others were camped out on the grounds of the planned site for a large law enforcement training facility. Local activists have been protesting the site since it was first announced in 2021. Known as «Cop City,» the $90 million, 85-acre site will include a shooting range and a «mock city» where police forces order can carry out burnings, buildings and «training of urban policemen.
Little Turtle, 26, was an environmental activist who was camped out in Atlanta’s South River Forest, where the facility is being built. It was the first known case in the US in which a police officer killed a protester involved in an environmental movement.
On Monday, the GBI said in a statement he would turn over the findings of his own internal investigation of the shooting to a special prosecutor once the office completed key interviews.
