ATLANTA — The special prosecutor in the Rayshard Brooks murder case will be announcing on Tuesday his decision in the case regarding the two white police officers facing charges in Brooks' death.
The announcement will finally bring some clarity to a more than two-year saga since the police shooting of Brooks, an event that will forever leave a piercing image in Atlanta's memory.
There was much that happened in the time between when Brooks, who is Black, was shot and killed outside a Wendy's, the burning of that Wendy's in a turbulent protest at the peak of the summer 2020 racial justice movement, and the coming decision in the case.
Here is a timeline of all that has happened in the case, beginning with the night Brooks died.
Rayshard Brooks murder case timeline
- June 12, 2020: The night Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed in a Wendy's parking lot on University Avenue in Peoplestown. The police killing of Brooks occurred just weeks after George Floyd's death, and the backlash and fallout were swift.
- June 13, 2020: Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigns. Wendy's burns down hours later. Protests massed around the Wendy's the night after Brooks was killed, culminating in the torching of the restaurant. Shields resigned as the incident put further pressure on city leaders after the earlier tasing of two college students during Downtown protests.
- June 14, 2020: Rolfe is fired while Brosnan is placed on administrative duty.
- June 17, 2020: Then-Fulton DA Paul Howard announces charges against both officers, alleging Brooks was kicked and stepped on as he was dying in the Wendy's parking lot.
- July 4, 2020: Secoriea Turner, an 8-year-old girl, is shot and killed while sitting in the back of her mother's car, as the mom tried to turn onto University Avenue near the Wendy's. The street around the burned-out Wendy's had been the site of continuing protests and a kind of occupation by demonstrators after the night it burned down. Organizers who were active at the site remained adamant they had no connection to the gunmen who were wandering the street the night Secoriea was killed.
- July 6, 2020: The city of Atlanta clears out the area around the Wendy's.
- July 14, 2020: The city demolishes the Wendy's. Activists then and now hope to convert the Wendy's site into a peace center named in Rayshard Brooks' honor.
- August 11, 2020: Fani Willis wins the Democratic Party primary runoff flor Fulton County District Attorney over Paul Howard, unseating him after more than two decades in office. With no Republican candidate, she effectively wins the race and becomes Fulton DA-elect.
- August 12, 2020: Speaking to 11Alive the next day, Willis expresses reservations about the Brooks case, arguing Howard tainted it by politicizing it during the campaign.
- January 1, 2021: Willis is sworn in as the new DA.
- January 28, 2021: Weeks after taking office, Willis formally asks Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to recuse her.
- February 9, 2021: Carr says he will not recuse Willis. She later makes a second request that is also denied.
- February 16, 2021: Rolfe's attorneys move to have the murder case dismissed, citing Willis' attempts to recuse herself.
- March 15, 2021: A Fulton magistrate judge initially sides with Carr, saying Willis can't recuse herself.
- May 5, 2021: An Atlanta city board reinstates Rolfe to the Atlanta Police force, saying officials did not properly follow procedures when they fired him nearly a year earlier.
- June 4, 2021: A Fulton Superior Court judge rules that Willis can in fact be recused.
- July 21, 2021: Carr announces veteran prosecutor Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, will take over the case as a special prosecutor.
- August 13, 2021: Willis announces the indictment against two alleged Blood gang members, Julian Conley and Jerrion McKinney, in the death of Secoriea Turner.
- September 7, 2021: Conley and McKinney plead not guilty in their case.
- January 27, 2022: Three suspects - John Wade, Natalie White and Chisom Kingston - are indicted in the burning of the Wendy's the night after Brooks was shot, each facing two counts of 1st-degree arson.
- January 31, 2022: Brooks' family announce renewed intentions for the peace center at 125 University Ave., the site of the Wendy's, on what would have been his 29th birthday. Brooks' widow, Tomika Miller, has vowed to return to the site every year to ensure his legacy lives on.
- April 14, 2022: Judge denies bond for Julian Conley in the Secoriea Turner case.
- June 11, 2022: Rolfe and Brosnan announce lawsuits against the city of Atlanta.
- June 12, 2022: Marking two years since Brooks' death, activists and community members hold a vigil in the cleared Wendy's parking lot.
- August 23, 2022: Skandalakis says in a press release he will publicly announce his decision on the case against the officers in a press conference scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Watch live coverage of the press conference on our re-designed 11Alive+ news app on Roku or Amazon Fire TV.