Police Shoot Georgia Tech LGBT Leader

Police say Scout Schultz refused to drop knife
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2017 1:43 AM CDT
Updated Sep 18, 2017 6:03 AM CDT
Georgia Tech Pride Leader Shot by Police
Schultz, in white, moments before the shooting.   (YouTube)

The president of Georgia Tech's Pride Alliance group was shot dead on campus Saturday night after suffering what a lawyer says appears to have been a mental breakdown. Police say Scout Schultz, who identified as non-binary instead of male or female, was shot after they responded to a 911 call about a person armed with a knife and gun outside a dormitory, WSB reports. Schultz doesn't appear to have had a gun, but police say the student was shot after refusing orders to drop a knife. Graphic video of the incident shows the 21-year-old walking toward officers and shouting "Shoot me!" around a minute before being shot by one of four nearby officers, reports the Washington Post.

Video shows that Schultz's hands were down when the student approached officers, and photos from the scene show a utility tool that apparently included a blade, though it wasn't extended. A lawyer for Schultz's family accuses officers of overreacting. It appears Schultz "was having a mental breakdown and didn't know what to do," the lawyer says. "The area was secured. There was no one around at risk." Schultz's mother tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that her eldest child, who was born Scott, suffered from depression and attempted suicide two years ago. "Why didn't they use some nonlethal force, like pepper spray or Tasers?" she wonders. (More Georgia Tech stories.)

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