The attorney representing the family of a Georgia Tech student who was shot and killed by campus police late Saturday night is wondering why authorities didn't de-escalate the situation by non-lethal measures.
The family of Scout Schultz, 21, has hired trial attorney L. Chris Stewart to represent them.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case, which happened when, according to the bureau, police responded to a 911 call at an 8th Street dorm about a person with a knife and a gun at 11:17 pm.
When officers arrived, they made contact with Schultz, who officers said was armed with a knife. Officers said they made multiple attempts to get Schultz to drop the knife, but that Schultz was not cooperative, and would not comply with the officers' commands.
They said Schultz advanced on the officers with the knife. When Schultz continued to advance and would not drop the knife, one of the officers fired, striking Schultz.
Schultz was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta, and died there.
Schultz was a fourth-year computer engineering student and president of Georgia Tech's Pride Alliance.
According to a family spokesperson, Stewart, who will hold a media briefing on Monday, is wondering why police didn't use non-lethal force to respond, and also wants to know if the officers who responded had any training to deal with mentally impaired subjects.
Stewart is managing partner of Stewart, Seay and Felton. Late last week, Stewart announced his firm had filed a lawsuit against a College Park mental health facility in connection with a teenage sexual assault that allegedly happened back in February.
The Pride Alliance released a statement Sunday afternoon:
Dear Pride Alliance members,As you might have heard, last night we lost our President, Scout Schultz. We are all deeply saddened by what has occurred. They have been the driving force behind Pride Alliance for the past two years. They pushed us to do more events and a larger variety events, and we would not be the organization we are known as without their constant hard work and dedication. Their leadership allowed us to create change across campus and in the Atlanta community. Scout always reminded us to think critically about the intersection of identities and how a multitude of factors play into one's experience on Tech's campus and beyond.
We love you Scout and we will continue to push for change.
You can watch a viewer-submitted video from Maxim Mints of the incident below. It stops before the actual shooting itself. If you wish to watch the entire video that includes the shooting, please click on the link provided. In both instances, viewer discretion is strongly cautioned.
► WATCH | Full-length version of Georgia Tech officer-involved shooting (viewer discretion is strongly advised)
► WATCH | Second angle of officer-involved shooting (viewer discretion is strongly advised)
No officers were injured during the incident.
Students stood outside watching police gather evidence shortly after the incident on 8th Street outside the West Village building.
Georgia Tech gave students a play-by-play on Twitter, alerting students at about 11:30 pm to seek shelter in a secure location until further notice.
About 20 minutes later, the school informed students that there was no longer a threat on campus.
The GBI is continuing their investigation. Once they have concluded their inquest, the results will be presented to the Fulton County District Attorney's office for review and any additional action.
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