One person was killed and a Georgia trooper was injured Wednesday as officials cleared out the site of a controversial proposed law enforcement training center in Atlanta.
Tensions have been rising in the city over the proposed Public Safety Training Center: a sprawling stretch of 85 acres of forested land in DeKalb County that will have a shooting range, amphitheater and a mock city that will be used for training.
Opponents have called the center “Cop City” and protesters have camped out in the area of the proposed site to decry construction.
A multi-agency operation to clear out the area of the future facility was conducted Wednesday morning around 9 a.m.
Law enforcement located a man in a tent inside the woods who “did not comply” with verbal commands and shot a Georgia State Patrol Trooper, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.
GBI Director Mike Register said the man opened fire “without warning.”
Other law enforcement officers returned fire, hitting the man, who died at the scene, the GBI said.
The man’s identification is pending next of kin notification, officials said. A handgun and shell casings were located at the scene.
The injured trooper was taken to a local hospital where he underwent surgery.
The trooper was in the ICU in stable condition after undergoing surgery but still has a “road to recovery,” Colonel Chris Wright of the Georgia State Patrol said in a news conference.
The GBI is investigating the officer-involved shooting.
Register said four people were arrested in the clearing out operation. The GBI release said they were taken to the DeKalb County Jail and charges are pending.
A movement called “Defend the Atlanta Forest,” which opposes the training center plans, contradicted the GBI’s account, saying: “Police killed a forest defender today, someone who loved the forest, someone who fought to protect the earth & its inhabitants. This is why we organize to stop Cop City. And we will.”
The organization said the operation was part of a “pattern of police directly threatening the lives of protestors and moving through the woods with drawn weapons, which has occurred intermittently for the last 8 months.”
The group said their ground sources reported hearing 12 continuous “rapid fire” shots, not an exchange of gunfire.
“We know there is no history of protestors shooting firearms at police in this movement thus far, but there is a significant pattern of police acting jumpily, making verbal threats, and pointing firearms at people they encounter in the woods,” the statement said.
NBC News has reached out to the GBI for comment regarding the allegation.
The Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a group that supports individuals arrested at protests, tweeted: “We are preparing a legal team to investigate and pursue a wrongful death suit.”
Register said over the past “several months” law enforcement has experienced “growing criminal behavior and terroristic acts” by individuals and groups who oppose the training center, which is part of a $90 million public safety campaign in Atlanta.
He said acts included arson, physical attacks, intimidation, the use of explosives and setting booby traps that have the potential of causing great bodily harm.
Last month, five people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after throwing rocks at police cars and attacking EMT’s outside fire stations near the proposed site with rocks and bottles, the GBI said.
In that incident, authorities arrested individuals found occupying makeshift treehouses. The GBI said after clearing out the area they found explosive devices, gasoline and road flares.
Protesters who oppose the facility say it would decimate one of the largest preserve forest areas in the city, say the land has historical Native American significance, and the land was once the site of the Old Prison Farm, where prisoners farmed the land, a practice scrutinized for its profit generation and exploitation of unpaid labor, NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta reported.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
