Revealed: 'Cop City' protester Manuel Teran had hands up when he was fatally shot by state troopers

An activist protesting Georgia’s planned “Cop City” had his hands raised when he was fatally shot by state troopers earlier this year, according to an independent autopsy commissioned by the family, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports

Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, 26, was shot 13 times Jan. 18 on the site of a planned police training center, according to an independent autopsy, the outlet previously reported.

Civil rights attorneys Brian Spears and Jeff Filipovits have scheduled a news conference for Monday morning in which they’re expected to address the autopsy report’s findings, and a lawsuit Terán’s family filed earlier this week against the City of Atlanta, the report said.

Terán’s family filed the lawsuit after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation blocked the release of the video evidence city officials had pledged to deliver, the report said.

“The GBI’s interference left the family with no choice but to file a lawsuit against the City of Atlanta,” the Terán family’s attorneys said in a statement obtained by the AJC.

“Both Manuel’s left and right hands show exit wounds in both palms,” the statement said. “The autopsy further reveals that Manuel was most probably in a seated position, cross-legged when killed.”

Georgia state troopers at the time of the shooting had been conducting a “clearing operation” near the training center site when they encountered Terán and other protesters camping in the woods, the report said.

The GBI said Terán fired first, wounding a trooper, before authorities opened fire on the environmental activist.

A GBI probe tied the bullet that struck the trooper to a gun found at the scene to a firearm Terán purchased in Sept. 2020.

There is no known video of the incident, according to the report, which notes that Georgia state troopers typically don’t wear body cameras. Atlanta police on Feb. 8 released body camera video of officers reacting to the shooting.

“During its investigation, the GBI has selectively released information framing its narrative while actively preventing Manuel’s family from obtaining any information,” family attorney Jeff Filipovits told the AJC.

“The GBI will not even tell us what type of evidence it has. Now, it says that the City of Atlanta cannot release the public records sought by Manuel’s family.”

The GBI in a Feb. 9 statement said was committed to “a full, complete, and accurate investigation,” and wouldn’t traffic in “speculation,” the report said.

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