Skip to main content
Atlanta police officer sacked for shooting as protests continue across US
This screen grab taken from body camera video provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows Rayshard Brooks speaking with Officer Garrett Rolfe in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant, late Friday

ATLANTA police fired officer Garrett Rolfe today for shooting dead Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, on Friday night as anti-racist protests continued to surge across the US and the world.

The Georgia city’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she had accepted the resignation of police chief Erika Shields.

“I do not believe this was a justified use of deadly force,” she said.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
National Nurses United RN members take part in an Anti-ICE vigil at Sutter CPMC Van Ness Campus Hospital in San Francisco, January 28, 2026. Photo: Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Features / 30 January 2026
30 January 2026

The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a registered nurse and union member, has sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls from National Nurses United to dismantle Ice and related agencies, says MARK GRUENBERG

A protester dressed in a costume watches as Department of Homeland Security officers detain a protester outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Portland, Ore
United States / 17 October 2025
17 October 2025

From terrifying the children of immigrants to pepper-spraying frogs, the US under Trump is rapidly descending into mayhem, writes Linda Pentz Gunter

National Guard in Washington DC, 2021
World / 12 August 2025
12 August 2025