DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — The parents of an environmental activist who Georgia state troopers fatally shot near the site of a planned Atlanta-area police and firefighter training center filed a lawsuit Tuesday against three law enforcement officers who they say planned and carried out a police raid that led to his death.
Manuel Paez Terán’s family says state troopers used excessive force against the 26-year-old when they fired pepper balls into the protester’s tent after Paez Terán refused to leave on the morning of Jan. 18, 2023. Authorities said Paez Terán then shot at the troopers from inside the tent, wounding one of them and prompting the troopers to return fire, killing the activist.
Authorities were conducting what officials described as a “clearing operation” against those who for months had been camping in the woods near the DeKalb County construction site to protest what critics call “Cop City.”
The killing of Paez Terán, who went by the name Tortuguita and used the “they” pronoun, was a galvanizing moment for the “Stop Cop City” movement, with activists across the world holding vigils and painting murals in honor of Tortuguita, who friends said was dedicated to helping others and protecting the environment. Authorities have portrayed Paez Terán as an out-of-state radical who wrote in their journal that police officers should be killed.
Ever since Paez Terán's death, their parents have complained that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has refused to give them answers about the events surrounding his death. Last year, the family commissioned an autopsy that concluded that Paez Terán was sitting cross-legged with their hands in the air when they were shot more than a dozen times.
“The story of Manuel’s death is still being written,” attorney Brian Spears said at a news conference Tuesday morning in Decatur, a few miles from where the training center is nearing completion. “The objective of this lawsuit is to learn the truth about who planned the raid and to hold them responsible.”
Paez Terán had moved to Georgia from Florida in 2022 to join activists who had been camping in the woods and calling themselves “forest defenders.”
The lawsuit says GBI Special Agent Ryan Long planned a “raid” that targeted protesters for expressing their political beliefs, violating their First Amendment rights.
The protesters were camped out legally on public land, not on the construction site itself, the family's lawyers said, and Long was wrong to instruct officers to arrest campers for “criminal trespass," thereby violating their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The lawsuit said that when Paez Terán “stated the desire to remain in the forest,” Trooper Mark Lamb ordered Trooper Bryland Myers to fire pepper balls into the activist's tent, trapping the protester in an enclosed space with chemicals and making Paez Terán “reasonably believe that they were going to die.”
Lamb and Myers were among the six troopers who fired their guns at the activist after Paez Terán fired at them, officials have said.
A GBI spokesperson declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Body camera footage from four Atlanta officers involved does not show the shooting itself, the GBI has said. But the agency said footage shows the officers encountered Paez Terán in a tent in the woods and fired in self-defense after the activist shot at troopers, injuring one, and ignored verbal commands to leave the tent.
A prosecutor declined to charge the troopers who killed Paez Terán, saying their use of deadly force was “objectively reasonable.” Investigators have also said ballistics evidence shows the injured trooper was shot with a bullet from a gun Paez Terán legally purchased in 2020.
Activists formed the “Stop Cop City” movement to protest the construction of an 85-acre (34-hectare) Atlanta Public Safety and Training Center, which they said would cause environmental damage by cutting down huge swathes of trees and exacerbate flooding fears in a poor, majority-Black neighborhood. They also oppose the use of tens of millions in public funding on what critics describe as being a training ground for "urban warfare.”
Initially given a $90 million price tag, the cost has since jumped to $115 million, with taxpayer funds paying the majority of that cost, despite city officials' earlier claims that the public obligation would only be $31 million.
The city said the state-of-the-art campus would boost police morale amid hiring and retention struggles while emphasizing “progressive" training practices.
Since the fatal encounter, Tortuguita's name has been invoked at numerous protests — some of which have turned violent, including last year when more than 100 masked activists stormed the construction site and torched equipment while others threw projectiles at retreating officers.
In September 2023, 61 protesters were indicted on racketeering charges, and dozens of activists have been charged with domestic terrorism. Attorney Jeff Filipovits said this was part of a strategy to “demonize those who hold certain political beliefs.”
“Forest defenders are not terrorists,” said Paez Terán's father, Joel Paez. “They aren't. And my child was with individuals concerned against environmental injustice.”
Paez Terán used to meditate every morning to be close to God and saw the forest as a sacred place, said their mother, Belkis Terán. In honor of Tortuguita — Spanish for “little turtle” — she wore a necklace with a turtle pendant to the news conference.
Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
Belkis Terán, the mother of of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita, is invited to speak by Attorney Jeff Filipovits, right, during a news conference outside the Decatur Courthouse, in Decatur, Ga., Tuesday, Dec 17, 2024. (Jenni Girtman/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Belkis Terán, the mother of of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita, speaks about her son and recounts some of the details of the shooting during a news conference outside the Decatur Courthouse, in Decatur, Ga., Tuesday, Dec 17, 2024. (Jenni Girtman/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Belkis Terán, whose son was shot and killed by state troopers while protesting the construction of an Atlanta police training center, speaks at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Ga., Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip based in part on soldiers' social media posts.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it had helped the former soldier safely leave Brazil on a commercial flight after what it described as “anti-Israel elements” sought an investigation last week. It warned Israelis against posting on social media about their military service.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, named for a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, said Brazilian authorities had launched an investigation into the soldier after it filed a complaint based on video footage, geolocation data and photographs showing him taking part in the demolition of civilian homes.
The foundation described the move as a “pivotal step toward accountability for crimes committed in Gaza" during nearly 15 months of war.
There was no immediate comment from Brazilian authorities. Brazilian media reported Saturday that the investigation was ordered by an on-call federal judge in Brazil’s Federal District. The decision was issued on Dec. 30 but first reported over the weekend.
Israel has faced heavy international criticism over its war against Hamas in Gaza, with the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. The International Court of Justice is separately investigating genocide allegations.
The Brazil case raised the prospect that rank-and-file Israeli troops could also face prosecution while traveling abroad.
Israel adamantly rejects the international allegations, saying its forces in Gaza are acting in accordance with international law and that any violations are punished within its judicial systems. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths, saying the militant group conceals tunnels and other infrastructure in residential buildings, necessitating their demolition.
Throughout the war, Israeli soldiers have posted numerous videos from Gaza that appear to show them rummaging through homes and blowing up or burning residential buildings. In some, they chant racist slogans or boast about destroying the Palestinian territory.
The military has pledged to take disciplinary action in what it says are a handful of isolated cases.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials. They say women and children make up over half the dead but do not distinguish between civilians and militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed five people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and four in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to health workers. Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 88 people had been killed in the past 24 hours.
The war has caused widespread destruction in Gaza and displaced around 90% of the population of 2.3 million people, with many forced to flee multiple times.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed a member of the Palestinian security services, calling him a wanted militant.
Israel's paramilitary Border Police said Sunday they carried out an operation in Meithaloun village overnight to arrest Hassan Rabaiya. They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape.
Israeli authorities released helmet-cam footage that showed the police shooting the suspect and blowing up what police said was an explosives lab in his home.
The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty.”
Meithaloun is near the West Bank city of Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. The Palestinian Authority has been waging a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin, angering many Palestinians.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But Israel has long accused it of inciting violence and turning a blind eye to militants, while Palestinian critics view it as a corrupt and ineffective body that aids the occupation.
The West Bank has seen a surge of violence during the war in Gaza. Israel captured both Gaza and the West Bank, as well as east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
Israel's defense minister warned Sunday that the truce that ended more than a year of fighting with Lebanon's Hezbollah is at risk.
Israel Katz said the agreement requires Hezbollah to withdraw to the north of the Litani River and Lebanese troops to eliminate militant infrastructure in the buffer zone — “something that hasn’t happened yet.”
“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of the residents of (Israel's) north to their homes,” he said.
Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire agreement. Israel has withdrawn from just two of the dozens of towns it holds in southern Lebanon. And it has continued striking what it calls Hezbollah targets, accusing the militant group of attempting to launch rockets and move weapons before they can be confiscated and destroyed.
The deal struck on Nov. 27 required Hezbollah to immediately lay down its arms in southern Lebanon. It gave Israel 60 days to withdraw its forces and hand over control to the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.
Hezbollah, severely degraded after Israeli strikes, has threatened to resume fighting if Israel does not fully withdraw its forces by the 60-day deadline.
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese in Rio de Janeiro contributed.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives of Mohammed Al Mabhouh,15, who was killed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, mourn over his body at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners carry the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, during their funerl at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
