Rayshard Brooks shooting: White woman sets Wendy's ablaze in footage as black protesters shout 'it wasn't us'
Shocking video footage shows a masked white woman setting fire to a Wendy's outlet close to where a black man, Rayshard Brooks, was shot dead by the authorities.
Authorities have now offered up a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arsonists being arrested. Wendy's restaurant had been set afire late Saturday while people protested the death and shooting of Brooks, 27, who was killed on Friday in Atlanta.
A protester managed to capture a video clip that showed a woman fanning the flames. The authorities had also taken to social media to share pictures of the white woman "attempting to hide her identity", sporting a black baseball cap and face mask.
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In the video clip, protesters can be heard slamming the arsonist for setting fire and insisted that it had not been Black Lives Matters supporters who had lit the fire. The man who had recorded the video can be heard saying, "Look at the white girl trying to set s*** on fire."
@StopCrimeATL is offering a $10,000 reward for information on the individuals responsible for starting a fire that led to the destruction of a Wendy’s restaurant at 125 University Avenue. Call 404-577-TIPS (8477) or submit information online at https://t.co/aS17unWjQi. pic.twitter.com/GsVaka56xT
— Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) June 14, 2020
"Look at that white girl trying to burn down a Wendy's. This wasn't us. This wasn't us!" the man says. The Wendy's restaurant was seen burning as Atlanta protesters demanded that the police officers who had shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, be criminally charged.
According to Atlanta fire officials, they were unable to send any fire trucks through the crowds who were blocking the streets around the Wendy's over fears of endangering the lives of the firefighters as well as those who were protesting.
The fire continued to grow and people grew fearful that the flames could ignite a nearby gas station but luckily the fire had burned out by midnight. An Attorney and a vice president of Atlanta's NAACP chapter, Gerald Griggs, said there were around 150 people protesting at the scene while he walked with them on Saturday afternoon.
"The people are upset. They want to know why their dear brother Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed when he was merely asleep on the passenger side and not doing anything," Griggs pointed out.
As a result of the tragic incident, officer Garrett Rolfe was fired after he fired the shots that took Brooks' life. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the officers had tried to take him into custody after Brooks failed a sobriety test.
Brooks was able to fight off the police and even took one of their tasers and ran away while pointing it at Rolfe who shot him. Rolfe had been a member of the police force since 2013. The shooting led to Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigning.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said, "The victim did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable."
Shields also released a statement and said, "For more than two decades, I have served alongside some of the finest men and women in the Atlanta Police Department. Out of a deep and abiding love for this City and this department, I offered to step aside as police chief."
"APD has my full support, and Mayor Bottoms has my support on the future direction of this department. I have faith in the Mayor, and it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve."
The death of Brooks comes after the death of 46-year-old George Floyd who died after a now-former police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck.