White police officers kill another African American, protests erupt in Atlanta

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Demonstrators on Saturday blocked the main highway in Atlanta and set fire to a Wendy's restaurant where police shot a black man as he tried to avoid arrest, and the incident was captured on video and is sure to spark more demonstrations across the country.

Riots broke out after dark in Atlanta, where Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said earlier in the day that Police Chief Erika Shields had accepted the immediate resignation of the chief over the death of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks.

Images on local television showed the restaurant in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers. 

Other demonstrators took to the highway and stopped traffic before police set up a line of cars to stop them. Authorities have not yet released the names of the two officers involved in the shooting, both of whom were white.

Brooks was the father of a young daughter who celebrated her birthday on Saturday, his lawyers said. His death by a police bullet occurred after more than two weeks of demonstrations in major US cities over the death of 46-year-old black man George Floyd, who died on May 25 under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis.

More than 100 people in Atlanta called for the police officers in the case to be criminally charged. The call came after it was reported that Brooks had fallen asleep in his car in the drive-thru of the restaurant. Police attempted to conduct a sobriety test and then arrest him, but he resisted, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. said in an emailed statement that his office has "already launched an intensive, independent investigation into the incident" pending the findings of the State Bureau of Investigation.