The funeral for Rayshard Brooks, the Black man that was shot and killed by Atlanta police, will be on Tuesday (June 23) in Atlanta, WVEE-FM V-103reports.
A source close to the family revealed to V-103 anchor Maria Boynton the funeral will be at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and will be a private service.
The news of the funeral follows charges placed on officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan for their roles in the killing. Rolfe faces 11 charges, one of them being felony murder and he faces life in prison. Brosnan has three charges that can land him anywhere from one year to 20.
On Monday, family attorney L. Chris Stewart announced Tyler Perry will be paying for the funeral expenses of Brooks.
27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was killed by Atlanta police officers after sleeping in a Wendy’s parking lot. After being confronted by a white officer, Brooks was fatally shot in the back, sending the Black Lives Matter community into their fourth week of protesting police brutality.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office concludes that Brooks’ death came from blood loss and organ injuries caused by two gunshot wounds from Atlanta Police, ruling his death as a homicide.
The fatal encounter came after a Wendy’s employee called Atlanta police to state that Brooks’ had fallen asleep in his vehicle in the drive-thru. Police arrived and were able to suspect that Brooks’ was intoxicated. When being arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence, Brooks’ resisted and ran away, resulting in Atlanta police fatally shooting another un-armed black man.
“[Brooks] did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable,” says DA Paul Howard to CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield. “It just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone’s death.”
Garret Rolfe, the officer responsible for shooting Brooks’ has since been fired. The other officer who was with him, (also white) was put on administrative leave.
On Saturday, June 13, Atlanta Police Chief, Erika Shields, resigned following the APD murder of another unarmed black man, Rayshard Brooks.
“Out of a deep and abiding love for this city and this department, I offered to step aside as police chief. APD has my full support,” Shields said in a statement. “Mayor Bottoms has my support on the future direction of this department. I have faith in the mayor, and it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” she said.
Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, said in a press conference on Saturday that she did not believe the shooting which happened on Friday night represented “justified use of deadly force.” She also called for the officer who shot Brooks to be fired immediately.
Shield’s resignation comes less than 24 hours after the murder which took place in Wendy’s parking lot. Someone had called the police on Brooks who had reportedly fallen asleep in his car. He was then given a field sobriety test, which he apparently failed. A struggle ensued when they tried to put him into custody and the officers tased Brooks. When Brooks attempted to run away, one of the officers shot and killed him.
Shortly after Shields announced that she would be resigning, the police officer who fatally shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, was terminated from the Atlanta Police Department, Atlanta police spokesperson, Carlos Campos, broke the news to CNN on Saturday. The other officer involved, Devin Bronsan, has been placed on administrative duty.
