Group calls for justice 1 year after protester killed at site of public safety training center

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Ralliers called for justice and answers one year after a protestor was killed at the site of Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center.

Police said Manuel Teran Tortuguita shot at state troopers first before others opened fire, but protestors said they weren’t buying that.

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Thursday, horns from cars and chants could be heard outside Park Avenue Baptist Church in Southeast Atlanta. About 100 people gathered under the trees at Gresham Park in Dekalb County.

Friends of Teran rode throughout the city and stopped at the park to have a ceremony in his memory.

Each one shared their memories and thoughts of Teran.

Javier was one of Teran’s friends.

“It’s important for us to show the world, to show the forces, the state, and capital that we’re still here and we’re still going to struggle and we’re going to fight and we’re going to carry on Tortuguita’s legacy,” said Javier.

The circumstances that surrounded Teran’s death caused a lot of controversy. Teran’s friends and those against the building of the Public Safety Training Center claim Teran didn’t have a gun at the time of the shooting.

The GBI confirmed that Teran’s handgun fired the shot that injured a Georgia State Trooper and there was gun residue on his hands.

Over the last year, people have vandalized the construction site and equipment used to build the training center.

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On Wednesday, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said they’re putting up billboards offering a $200,000 reward to hopefully arrest those behind the vandalism.

“That reward information will appear on over 450 billboards across the country in major American cities that we believe these individuals are coming from,” he said.

“We’ll continue to struggle here. We will continue to prevent this facility from being built,” Javier said.

Police said the billboards will go up across the country this week.

Mayor Dickens said the center should be finished December 2024.

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