Scout Schultz, 21-year-old Georgia Tech student who identified as gender non-binary, was shot and killed by Georgia Tech police over the weekend.
Schultz, 21, was shot and killed after she walked towards police officers shouting ‘Shoot me!. Schultz’s parents have hired trial attorney L. Chris Stewart, claiming that their child did not have to die if police used de-escalating tactics and non-lethal measures.
Footage of the incident shows Schultz walking toward police officers and shouting ‘Shoot me!’. An officer responds “Nobody wants to hurt you.” Schultz pauses briefly, then takes three steps forward before being shot once and falling to the ground.
Schultz later died at a hospital.
via CNN:
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the fatal shooting of a Georgia Tech student by campus police late Saturday after the student was confronted about carrying a knife.
According to the GBI, Georgia Tech Police officers responded to a 911 call about a person with a knife and a gun on the downtown Atlanta campus at 11:17 p.m. The GBI said that when officers arrived, they found Scout Schultz, 21, outside a dormitory with a knife.
A cellphone video taken by a Georgia Tech student from his dorm room across the street shows the confrontation play out in the brightly-lit entrance to a parking garage. At least two officers have their guns drawn as Schultz walks toward them with arms down. A knife is not visible in the cellphone video seen by CNN. Footage after the shooting, however, shows a metal, flip-open utility tool that would likely include a small blade, lying on the ground.
Schultz was a fourth-year computer engineering major at GA Tech from Lilburn, Georgia. Schultz also had a minor in biomedical engineering and planned to work on medical devices. She was also the president of the Georgia Tech Pride Alliance.
A vigil is planned for Monday, September 18.
