You forgot to mention that the activist was killed because he was shooting a cop.
"Both Manuel's left and right hands show exit wounds in both palms. The autopsy further reveals that Manuel was most probably in a seated position, cross-legged when killed,"
Also, he was shot a dozen times, and apparently had raised both his arms.
Neat trick getting shot through both palms while holding a gun (without damaging the gun), kind of like bashing your own head in from the back of a squad car, or hanging yourself from a 9 ft jail cell ceiling without a rope or platform.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/11/1162843992/cop-city-atlanta-a...
Thanks for the link.
If you get shot 57 times, including through your head, you're probably going to drop what you're holding at some point during the experience.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/st-louis-officer-execut...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6g-QyAxbw
https://abcnews.go.com/US/baltimore-officers-planted-gun-man...
> Today, the GBI received confirmation from a firearms transaction record that in September 2020, Manuel Esteban Paez Teran legally purchased the firearm that was used in the shooting of a GSP trooper.
> The handgun is described as a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mm. Forensic ballistic analysis has confirmed that the projectile recovered from the trooper’s wound matches Teran’s handgun
1. https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2023-04-14/gbi-invest...
Super. Believable.
/s
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/devil-in-the-grooves-the-...
> Gunpowder residue is not seen on the hands. A GSR kit is performed," the report reads in part.
> That GSR kit was sent off to the GBI Crime Lab for analysis. The findings were released Tuesday. This report "revealed the presence of particles characteristic of gunshot primer residue."
The autopsy did not find visible residue. That is quite different from your conclusion "the autopsy found there wasn't gunpowder on their hands".
1 - https://www.ajc.com/news/gbi-report-particles-characteristic...
2 - https://www.allsides.com/news-source/atlanta-journal-constit...
Cox Enterprises is ringing extremely loud warning bells. This is the same Cox that is time and again accused of being an internet and TV monopoly and taking advantage of their customers with exploitative, borderline illegal tactics. I don't trust them one bit. I'm willing to bet in a place like Atlanta, with the history it has, there's still a good ol' boys club with deep roots, operating as the Chamber of Commerce or another faceless, buried, quasi-bureaucratic market-capture and -manipulation mechanism. It's such a mundane point to make because of how ubiquitous this pattern is, but bears repeating in this context. It always seems paranoid to point out this possibility until it's proven true. You can see a recent expression of this tendency in the raid on that elderly reporter in Kansas, the one that stressed her out so much she died.
Again, critical reading is imperative here. Especially considering how news media outlets today frequently rely on "access journalism" -- ie, favorable coverage and language in exchange for voluntary participation by police in accessing details about new stories -- we should expect that large outlets (especially ones with captive audiences such as "the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia"; looks like they monopolized Atlanta's newspaper market, too) play games with rhetoric to maintain legitimacy while peppering in propaganda, in the name of "both sides" and "neutrality", in order to maintain access.
You shouldn't trust that 'allsides' website any more than you should trust anyone else. I certainly don't. You should also note: "As of September 2023, AllSides has low or initial confidence in our Lean left rating for Atlanta Journal-Constitution." This does not support your assertion that this media source is "left-biased". In fact upon further review that website relies exclusively on community reviews to label these websites. It has the same issues that any reporting mechanism of this form has, which makes it even less trustworthy.
ACJ is playing to their crowd just like the rest of them to maintain legitimacy and keep the money flowing. This isn't to say that everything in the news is fake, just that everything in the news is shaped by material forces working behind the scenes which helps to form the narratives that end up in the columns and webpages. Sometimes there's outright lies, sometimes lies by omission. It's as much about what is said as what isn't said. Sometimes even emphasis and rhetoric is enough to shift the narrative enough that certain perspectives are completely memory-holed.
Indeed.
If you don't trust that the multiple media outlets have managed to copy and paste quotes correctly, then go to the original source reports and draw your conclusions.
I get that it's inconvenient for one side in the standoff for gunshot residue to be found on their hands. I don't have any reasonable double that there was.
Plenty of experts on primer residue and other forensics topics out there. "Is it possible that this amount of residue is due to the bullets shot at and into Tortuguita and not due to shots fired from a weapon held by him? Do you find it credible that wounds such as those through the palms of Tortuguita coincide with the narrative that he was wielding a gun at the time of his death?" Easy peasy, and I didn't even go to school for journalism. I'm sure there's other means of finding credible information. They could also quote those other activists who were witness to the death and put those quotes on equal footing with those from the police, but they don't.
> I don't have any reasonable double [sic] that there was.
Assuming you meant "doubt": then you're playing a one-sided game while scolding others for what you perceive is one-sidedness. To me it is hypocritical to do so.
The protestor had a gun on him. The model and serial number matched that of a gun he purchased in 2020. The round recovered from the state trooper’s abdomen matched that gun.
The cops traced it back to Teran and went into the protest encounter expecting to be dealing with a cop killer.
Kid had no idea what was coming; APD are thugs an environment that self-selects for them. They took no chances and wasted him.
Covering up a summary execution is way easier than conspiracy to commit it.
The family claims friendly fire. I'd believe it. Accidental discharge would explain why no GSR was found on his hands.
Firearms forensics is, like most criminal forensics, junk science[1]: even when the basic scientific reality is aligned any particular technique, it's heavily laundered through interpretation and not subject to rigorous statistical analysis.
(In particular, bullet analysis is complete nonsense. Prior to 2005 the standard technique was lead-composition analysis, which (1) assumed that all of the suspect's bullets were the same, and (2) assumed that similarly-manufactured bullets would have similar compositions. Neither is true, which is why the Federal government no longer uses it as evidence. It's unclear whether the same is true for Georgia and the GBI.)
Edit: A more specific reference for ballistic analysis[2], which appears to be what the GBI used here.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_firearm_examination#C...
[2]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X2...
Even if he had it with him...
Even if he had just shot a cop with it...
It does not justify murdering him for it, especially since from what I've seen, when he was shot he had surrendered and was no threat to anyone.
We really need to stop letting cops control the narrative around their extrajudicial killings by putting blame on the victim. It doesn't matter if the victim is a pure choirboy or the worst, most hard-bitten gang member you can find: lethal force should be the absolute last resort when attempting to subdue someone.