Rayshard Brooks

Rayshard Brooks, 27, was shot and killed by Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe outside a Wendy's restaurant on June 12, 2020, after a struggle that began when officers tried to arrest him for driving under the influence. Brooks resisted, grabbed a Taser from Officer Devin Brosnan, and ran; an autopsy found he was shot twice in the back. Then-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard charged Rolfe with felony murder within days, less than three weeks after George Floyd's killing sparked nationwide protests. Howard lost his re-election bid months later, and the case was passed between three successive prosecutors before a special prosecutor appointed by Georgia's attorney general dismissed all charges against both officers in August 2022, finding the shooting objectively reasonable. Rolfe, initially fired, was reinstated with back pay by the city's Civil Service Board. No one has ever been convicted in Brooks's death.

Atlanta, GA · Fulton County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The DUI stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per Atlanta Police Department body and dash camera footage released publicly.
• Brooks grabbed a Taser from Officer Brosnan during the struggle and fired it at Rolfe while fleeing; Rolfe fired three shots, striking Brooks twice in the back, per the autopsy.
• Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard charged Rolfe with felony murder and other counts, and Brosnan with aggravated assault, within five days of the shooting.
• The Atlanta Civil Service Board reinstated Rolfe with back pay in May 2021, finding the city had denied him due process in his firing.
• Special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis, appointed by the Georgia attorney general after Howard lost re-election, announced in August 2022 — more than two years after the shooting — that both officers "committed no crimes" and dismissed all charges, finding the use of force objectively reasonable given Brooks firing the Taser at Rolfe as he fled.
• Brooks's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Atlanta in September 2021, which remained active following the dismissal of criminal charges.

• Whether firing a Taser — a less-lethal weapon — while fleeing justified a fatal shooting that struck Brooks twice in the back has never been tested at any criminal trial, since the case never reached one.
• Whether the original charges were, as the officers' attorneys and some commentators argued, rushed for political reasons by a district attorney facing re-election, or were withdrawn for political reasons under a differently pressured process two years later, has been argued from both directions and never independently resolved.
• The specific evidentiary basis Skandalakis weighed differently from Howard's original charging decision, given both reviewed largely the same body camera footage, was not fully detailed in his public announcement.

• NPR — “Atlanta police officers won't face any charges in Rayshard Brooks shooting”
• CNN — “Prosecutor to dismiss charges against Atlanta police officers involved in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks”
• Wikipedia — “Killing of Rayshard Brooks” (sourced case history)
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs