Activist Killed by US Police Had No Gunpowder on Hands, Shot 57 Times

The victim’s brother said the gruesome account of the activist’s wounds was “too much” to read and questioned why the same state bureau of investigation which conducted the fatal raid has been placed in charge of the probe into the killing.

An official autopsy has revealed no gunpowder residue was found on the hands and clothes of environmental activist shot and killed by Georgia police three months ago during a raid on the public park where the city of Atlanta plans to construct a police training center, punching a major hole in the US government’s account of the episode.

In January, Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán was killed in a hail of bullets when Georgia state troopers attempted to clear dozens of self-styled “forest defenders” camping in a public park in an effort to avert the construction of the facility, which activists disparagingly refer to as “Cop City.”

Police quickly claimed they had killed Terán in self-defense, insisting the 26-year-old demonstrator failed to follow their commands and ultimately shot a state trooper. But a growing body of evidence disputes that narrative.

An autopsy performed at the request of Teran’s family revealed the deceased activist’s hands were raised when shot and killed by the Georgia State Patrol. And bodycam footage released in January showed an officer exclaiming "you f***ed your own officer up" and asking "did they shoot their own man?"

In this image taken from body cam video released by the Atlanta Department, officers stand behind trees after hearing gunfire near the future site of City of Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center on Jan. 18, 2023, near Atlanta, Ga. Authorities said Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, an environmental activist who went by the name Tortuguita, died at the scene, and a state trooper was injured with a gunshot wound.

© AP Photo / Atlanta Police Department

The latest autopsy, performed by DeKalb county reportedly released through open records requests on Wednesday, does not appear to support the theory that Paez Terán fired a weapon either.

“Gunpowder residue is not seen on the hands” of Terán, the county medical examiner’s office concluded. It’s not necessarily definitive proof of the activist’s innocence, but if gunpowder residue had been found on the victim’s hands, it would have been seen as validating the state’s claims that the activist fired first.

But what happened next is clear from the autopsy. Georgia police shot Terán 57 times – wounds which the report describes in detail over the course of 19 pages.

“I tried to read the whole thing – in the end it was a little too much,” Terán’s older brother, Daniel Paez, reportedly told the press. “The very fact that they’re talking about Manny, and how they died – I didn’t even want to share it with our mother, since the pain of losing Manny continues to haunt us; it doesn’t seem to get better.”

Paez was highly critical of the fact that the same Georgia Bureau of Investigations which coordinated the raid that left Terán dead has been placed in charge of the investigation into his death.

“How on earth do they get to be the ones to investigate? It’s a quote-unquote independent investigation, without any oversight.”

The fact that the autopsy indicates Teran didn’t die immediately, and was likely killed by a gunshot wound to the head, “made me imagine what could have happened,” Paez explained.

“Could he have survived if not shot to the head? Did they look at him before shooting him?”