Protesters in Atlanta took to the streets Saturday night and blocked a freeway as a Wendy’s restaurant where a Black man was fatally shot by police burned for more than an hour.
The demonstrations came just hours after Atlanta’s police chief resigned in the aftermath of the fatal shooting Friday night of Rayshard Brooks, 27, by an officer in the Wendy’s parking lot.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the resignation of Chief Erika Shields, a member of the Atlanta Police Department for more than two decades, and said Assistant Chief Rodney Bryant would serve as interim chief until a permanent leader was hired.
“Chief Shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief so that the city may move forward with urgency in rebuilding the trust desperately needed in our communities,” Bottoms said.
“Out of a deep and abiding love for this City and this department, I offered to step aside as police chief,” she said in a statement.