The Fulton County (Georgia) Medical Examiner's office has declared Rayshard Brooks' death at the hands of police as a homicide.
The announcement came after officials performed an autopsy on Sunday. His official cause of death is listed as organ damage and blood loss from two gunshot wounds to his back.
Brooks was shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer on Friday in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant. Police initially responded after Brooks was found asleep in his car in the drive-thru line.
After a failed field sobriety test, officers attempted to place Brooks in custody on DUI charges. At that point, a body camera footage shows that a struggle ensued.
Officers initially drew stun guns on Brooks, but Brooks was able to wrestle a stun gun away from one of the officers. He fired the stun gun in an officers' direction while trying to flee the scene. At that point, an officer shot Brooks twice in the back.
Brooks was transported to a local hospital where he died in surgery.
The officer who shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, has since been fired.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Atlanta over the weekend. During one protest, the Wendy's where Brooks was shot was burned to the ground.
Brooks' death comes amid several other high-profile cases of black people dying at the hands of police in 2020. In March, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her home when officers entered on a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. No drugs were found in the home. In May, George Floyd died in police custody after bystander video showed an officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes.
