Vincent Truitt

Vincent Truitt, 17, was shot twice in the back and killed by a Cobb County, Georgia Police officer on July 13, 2020, after fleeing on foot from a car that had been reported stolen. Truitt was the front-seat passenger; after the driver jumped out and was caught, Truitt also ran, and an officer chased him roughly two seconds — with no verbal commands given, according to released video — before firing. Police said Truitt had a gun and pointed it at the officer during the chase, though the officer's own body camera footage of that moment was reportedly too blurry to clearly confirm it. A Cobb County grand jury deliberated roughly eight hours in February 2021 before ruling the shooting justified. The family's $150 million federal lawsuit, which attorneys called the largest ever filed in a Georgia police shooting case, was later dismissed on qualified immunity grounds. No one has ever been charged in Truitt's death.

Marietta, GA · Cobb 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 stolen-vehicle pursuit, the foot chase, and the shooting, per Cobb County Police body camera and dashcam footage released publicly alongside the grand jury announcement.
• Video showed the driver of the reported stolen vehicle was apprehended first; Truitt, the passenger, then exited and began running, with an officer chasing him on foot for roughly two seconds — during which no verbal commands were given, per 11Alive's review of the footage — before firing two shots that struck him in the back.
• Cobb County Police Chief Tim Cox and the district attorney's office maintained that Truitt was armed and pointed a gun at the pursuing officer during the chase; a .40-caliber handgun was recovered feet from his body, though the officer's own body camera video of the moment he said he saw the weapon was reportedly too blurry to independently confirm it.
• A Cobb County grand jury deliberated for approximately eight hours in February 2021 before determining the officer's use of force was authorized and recommending no further action.
• Truitt's parents filed a $150 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the officer and Cobb County in January 2022, which their attorneys described as the largest ever filed in a Georgia police shooting case; the suit was later dismissed on qualified immunity grounds.
• Truitt's family and the Georgia NAACP publicly disputed the grand jury's finding, with family attorney Gerald Griggs stating the video showed Truitt never posed an immediate or deadly threat to the officer.

• Whether Truitt in fact pointed a firearm at the officer during the brief chase, as police maintained, or whether the blurry body camera footage left that central claim genuinely unconfirmed, as the family's attorneys argued, was never tested at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.
• The full grand jury proceedings and the specific evidence weighed most heavily in reaching its conclusion have not been made public beyond the announced outcome, as is standard under grand jury secrecy.
• Why the officer had only approximately two seconds to assess the situation and gave no verbal commands before firing has not been directly addressed beyond police's general characterization of the threat.

• WSB-TV — “Grand jury clears Cobb County officer in deadly shooting of 17-year-old”
• 11Alive — “Newly-released video shows what led up to shooting of Vincent Truitt by Cobb County police”
• 13WMAZ — “Vincent Truitt death lawsuit against Cobb County dismissed”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs