Rayshard Brooks, the black man shot by a white Atlanta police in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant on Friday night, suffered organ damage and blood loss from two gunshot wounds, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office says.
“His cause of death: gunshot wounds of the back,” an investigator for the medical examiner said in a statement after an autopsy was conducted on Sunday. He also hinted that Brooks’ death is now being investigated as a homicide by prosecutors.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in the statement: “Today, members of my staff had the unfortunate duty of witnessing the autopsy of Mr. Brooks as part of our continued investigation.
“Because this is a homicide investigation, there are several technical requirements that must be met before we are able to reach a decision. That includes the confirmation of the ballistics involved and obtaining a preliminary report from the Medical Examiner,” according to the DA’s statement.
Officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot Rayshard Brooks was fired while his colleague Devin Brosnan, has been placed on administrative leave.
Brooks had been asleep in his car in a Wendy’s drive-thru, causing other customers to drive around the car. The two police officers who were dispatched to Wendy’s around 10:30 p.m on Friday, conducted a sobriety test on Brooks, which he failed.
During the arrest, he resisted and a struggle ensued between the three men.
Videos from the scene show Rayshard struggling on the ground with two police officers over a Taser. As he stood up and started running away, both cops chased him from behind before Officer Garrett Rolfe fired twice to Rayshard’s back.
The father of three died after he was rushed to a local hospital for surgery.