Police Shot Queer Environmental Activist “14 Times With Their Hands Up”, Independent Autopsy Says

A queer community organiser who was killed during a police raid in Atlanta was likely sitting cross-legged with their hands up when they were shot multiple times, according to a new independent autopsy.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Tortuguita was killed while protesting the establishment of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, known colloquially as “Cop City,” a proposed training facility for the Atlanta Police Department currently being built in the Weelaunee Forest, which has created a national firestorm.

According to ‘Them’, the activist’s family released the results of the autopsy during a press conference on Monday, which revealed that they were shot at least 14 times. The autopsy report, which was obtained by independent outlet Unicorn Riot, was conducted by Dr. Kris Sperry, a former state medical examiner. The report details that the trajectories of the bullet wounds indicate that Tortuguita was “most probably in a seated position, cross-legged, with the left leg partially over the right leg” at the time of death. It also notes that Tortuguita was able to raise their “hands and arms up and in front” of their body, with palms facing toward their upper body, although it is “impossible to determine” whether or not they had been holding a firearm.

Tortuguita’s mother, Belkis Terán, said that their child “loved the forest, they meditated there, the forest connected them with God,” per VICE.

“I never thought that [Tortuguita] could die in a meditation position,” she said on Monday. “My heart is destroyed.”

Georgia authorities told media at the time that Tortuguita was told by officers to exit their tent, and that they were the first to shoot, causing a still-unidentified officer to shoot back in “self-defense.” However, the lack of body footage and the result of the independent autopsy have cast significant doubt on the police’s version of events.

Brian Spears, one of the family’s lawyers, said that Tortuguita was “shot so many times and by different firearms that the tracks running through the body converge and intersect,” according to VICE.

“[Tortuguita] was looking death in the face, hands raised, when killed,” Spears said.

As was widely reported at the time of their death, Tortuguita was vocally committed to nonviolence, further casting doubt upon the idea that whoever killed them was acting in self-defence. In a December profile, they told the magazine Bitter Southerner, “We get a lot of support from people who live here, and that’s important because we win through nonviolence.”

“We’re not going to beat them at violence,” the activist said. “But we can beat them in public opinion, in the courts even.”

“Cop City” has been met with local and national outcry since it was proposed in August 2021. In addition to criticisms that the $90 million facility would further militarize the police, it would also destroy one of the city’s largest remaining green spaces, which is located in a poor and predominantly Black area, per the New Yorker. The forest has also been referred to as a “critical piece of climate infrastructure,” which protects the area from storm runoff, cleans the air, and provides shade in the summer months.

Read related myGwork articles here:

Queer Environmental Activist Reportedly Shot By Atlanta Police

Celebrating Pride Month With 50 LGBTQ+ Environmental Activists From Around The World

Hundreds Of Met Police Officers Are Homophobic, Sexist, And Racist, Report Says

Calls For Police To Be Barred from Birmingham Pride

Keep up to date with the latest myGnews