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1 taken into custody during protest outside Buckhead restaurant

Demonstrators gathered near the Fogo de Chão restaurant with signs and photos of Nygil Cullins.

ATLANTA — At least one person was taken into custody Friday evening during a protest outside of Fogo de Chão in Buckhead.

Demonstrators gathered near the restaurant with signs and photos of Nygil Cullins. Cullins was killed by police responding to the Piedmont Road location on May 18, 2022. The family said he was suffering from a mental health crisis when the shooting happened.

Friday afternoon, 11Alive crews saw one person being taken into custody during the protest. Video shows the crowd yelling at officers, asking why they detained the man. Police there told 11Alive the man was refusing to get out of the street. He's facing charges of pedestrian in the roadway and obstruction.

Cullins' mom was briefly detained by APD because two officers were hit trying to take the man into custody. However, she was let go after being questioned. APD officers said they would review their bodycam video to figure out who hit the officers.

In Cullins' case, APD on Monday released both videos from the involved officers' body cameras and videos from the restaurant's surveillance cameras to the public. 

However, the Cullins family, along with their attorneys, said they are now left with more questions than answers after viewing the footage themselves, arguing that it doesn't show the full scope of the incident. Attorneys stated they want an unedited version of the footage released so there can be more transparency as to what led officers to use such force.

RELATED: Video of night where man was killed by police at Buckhead restaurant released over 2 years later

"We believe that the shooting was unjustified and that the City of Atlanta as well as Fogo de Chão need to answer to what happened to Nygil," attorney Gerald Griggs said of the Georgia NAACP.

Cullins' mother, Mya, shares similar sentiments.

"I'm going to stand and I’m going to fight until I have no breath in my body to do whatever is ethically possible to ensure that justice is served for Nygil Marquis Cullins," she said.

"We want to make sure that it is clear that we continue to advocate for Nygil," Griggs said.

Background on the case 

Nygil Cullins' parents previously said the deadly shooting was preceded by a mental health episode. His mother, Mya, previously told 11Alive she had gone to her son's apartment and felt that he "wasn't well."

They called the police prior to Nygil going to the restaurant on Piedmont Road and specifically asked for someone well-trained in dealing with mental health episodes. It was a fear of hers that he would be killed by police.

"When I got on the phone with them, I said, 'He's an African American male; please make sure whoever shows up is trained and knowledgeable, so when they deal with my son, I don't have to worry about my son being killed,'" she said.

RELATED: 'We need transparency' | Family files federal suit two years after son is shot and killed by two Atlanta Police officers

Nygil's mother previously said she called the Riverwood Behavioral Health System ahead of time to make sure they had a bed available and told 911 dispatchers she would follow police there and fill out the paperwork when they arrived. 

According to her account, police took nearly two hours to show up, and when they arrived, they missed Nygil by around 10 minutes. Despite efforts to keep him at the apartment, he had left and eventually made his way to the Buckhead restaurant. 

Credit: Mya and Quinten Cullins
Nygil Cullins

APD said that around 7 p.m. that night, they were sent there regarding an "unruly patron who was armed with a handgun." APD said in its video released Monday that the caller advised the guest was yelling at employees and wanting to drink alcohol. 

Based on previously released information, officers encountered Nygil and attempted to escort him out. They said he was not cooperative, and the encounter escalated to a physical altercation where the officer deployed a Taser. 

APD previously said the Taser was not effective and that Nygil began heading toward the door when he was tackled by a security guard. The agency said that he then got out his gun and fired one round that hit the guard. APD stated that at least one of their officers discharged their gun and killed Nygil. 

In May, the family announced a federal lawsuit against the City of Atlanta, Fogo de Chão, the restaurant's security team, the security guard and the two APD officers who responded. The federal lawsuits claim negligence, inadequate training and excessive and deadly force all contributed to the shooting.

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