Funeral services are being held Tuesday at Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church for Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man whose death in a police shooting earlier this month sparked protests. Brooks’ death, less than three weeks after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, helped fuel a growing national movement against police violence and racial injustice.
The night of June 12, Atlanta police officers were called to a Wendy’s drive-thru where Brooks had fallen asleep. They said he failed a sobriety test and grabbed an officer’s Taser. Surveillance video shows Brooks was running away when he was shot twice in the back. Two officers involved are facing charges and one has been charged with murder.
How to watch Rayshard Brooks’ funeral service
- What: Funeral service for Rayshard Brooks
- Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2020
- Time: 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia
- Online stream: Watch live in the video player above or on your mobile or streaming device
Brooks left behind a wife of eight years, Tomika Miller, and four young children.
“Right now I’m still not processing the fact that my husband’s not coming home ever,” Miller told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann a few days after the shooting.
“It was murder. That was not justified,” she said. “Because he was shot and he wasn’t armed. He wasn’t dangerous.”
The officer who opened fire, Garrett Rolfe, lost his job and has been charged with felony murder and 10 other counts. Another officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative duty and is facing lesser criminal charges. Police Chief Erika Shields resigned the day after the shooting, and Assistant Chief Rodney Bryant, who is black, will serve as the city’s interim police chief.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ordered changes to the Atlanta Police Department’s use-of-force policy and said the shooting “angered me and it saddened me beyond words.”
A private viewing was held for Brooks on Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once served as pastor. Attorneys for Brooks’ family said Atlanta-based media mogul Tyler Perry reached out to them to offer to pay for the funeral.
Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of the late civil rights leader and CEO of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, is speaking at the service.
The eulogy is being delivered by Rev. Raphael Warnock, the church’s senior pastor. An excerpt released in advance says: “Rayshard Brooks wasn’t just running from the police. He was running from a system that makes slaves out of people. A system that doesn’t give ordinary people who’ve made mistakes a second chance, a real shot at redemption.”
