Protester of ‘Cop City’ near Atlanta was shot by police at least 57 times, autopsy says

A slain protester who opposed construction of a vast law enforcement training center near Atlanta was shot at least 57 times during a police confrontation, an autopsy revealed on Thursday.

The wounds suffered by protester Manuel Paez Teran, 26, were so extensive that a loose round “fell from the left sleeve of one of the shirts” as coroners were undressing the body for examination, according to the DeKalb County Medical Examiner.

The activist known as “Tortuguita,” whose full name is Manuel Esteban Páez Terán, was “shot multiple times during an altercation with law enforcement officials from different jurisdictions” in January, stated the report signed by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Gerald T. Gowitt.

The report was dated March 14, but was only made widely available to the public this week.

The proposed Public Safety Training Center, set to include a shooting range and a mock city that will be used for police training, has been dubbed “Cop City” by opponents and drew protesters to its future site in a forested area of DeKalb County outside of Atlanta.

A multiagency operation to clear out an encampment of protesters was conducted on the morning of Jan. 18.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, officers found Tortuguita in a tent and said the protester “did not comply” with law enforcement’s commands. Tortuguita allegedly shot and wounded a state trooper, then officers opened fire.

Relatives and friends have insisted that Tortuguita had their hands raised and was no threat to police.

“We are devastated to learn that our child, our sweet Manny, was mercilessly gunned down by police and suffered 57 bullet wounds all over their body,” according to a statement by the protester’s mother, Belkis Teran.

Tortuguita identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns.

The family and its representatives said they still have too many unanswered questions about their loved one’s violent death.

“We cannot even begin to determine what happened on the morning of January 18 until the GBI releases its investigation,” family attorney Brian Spears said in a statement.

An Atlanta Police Department representative could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday that state authorities have completed their probe and referred all questions to the prosecutor appointed to the case, Mountain Judicial Circuit DA George Christian.

The special prosecutor said Thursday it would be “premature” to discuss any findings of investigators and didn’t give a timeline on any decision to seek charges against law enforcement that opened fire on the protester.

Gowitt’s report took no stance on that issue.

“Since most shootings involving multiple gunshots are dynamic events attempts to place the decedent in any particular position at a specific point in time is fraught with potential inaccuracies,” the medical examiner wrote.

“There are too many variables with respect to movement of the decedent and the shooters to draw definitive conclusions concerning Mr. Teran’s body position.”

The medical examiner listed the protester’s cause of death as “multiple gunshot wounds” and manner of death a “homicide.” Coroners regularly use the word “homicide” as simply meaning death at the hands of another and not as a criminal law term for wrongdoing.

The protester was deemed to be in good health with with no “pre-existing natural disease” prior to the shooting, according to the autopsy.

Among the devastating shots that likely killed the protester was one that “passed through and collapsed the right eye globe and then entered the cranial cavity through the right orbital roof,” according to the autopsy report.

“The gunshot wounds involved the head, torso, and the bilateral upper and lower extremities including the hands and right foot,” the report concluded.

“Collectively, the gunshots resulted in his death and therefore the cause of death is designated as multiple gunshot wounds. However, the gunshot wound to the head would have been fatal by itself.”