SMYRNA, Ga. — Supporters of a man killed by police took over a Cobb County city council meeting and refused to leave.
For 20 minutes Monday night, the Smyrna City Council meeting was taken over by protesters angered over the promotion of Smyrna Police Officer Kenneth Owens. %
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The officer shot and killed Nicholas Thomas, 23, last March.
"They killed my baby. Owens murdered my child," said Felicia Thomas, Nicholas’ mother.
Monday's council meeting was continuously disrupted by outbursts and steady chanting by supporters of Thomas.
Officer Owens has admitted to shooting Nicholas Thomas on March 24 last year, telling investigators he fired as Thomas sped by in a customer's Maserati at a tire shop.
Owens claimed that he feared Thomas would hit a K-9 officer. %
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The police were there that day to arrest Thomas after he was seen driving without a license in a car he wasn't supposed to be in, with an outstanding arrest warrant from Clayton County on another charge.
Monday, Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon tried to get control of the meeting but he had to clear out.
Protesters then shouted down an officer trying to tell them it was an unlawful assembly. Eventually everyone was removed from the chamber.
"We want the City Council to apply the necessary pressure to take now Lt. Owens out of that position," said Alicia Newton with the Nicholas Thomas Justice Coalition.
"Our kids are being killed and these police officers are being promoted," said Felicia Thomas.
Cobb County investigated the shooting, as did the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and a Cobb County grand jury ultimately cleared the officer.
Demonstrators believe the grand jury didn't get all of the evidence.
The mayor and the mother are in talks to meet one-on-one.