A WENDY’s restaurant where a cop fatally shot a black man appears to have been set ablaze by a masked white woman, according to bystanders videoing the fire.
Black Lives Matter vowed “it wasn’t us” as Atlanta police offered a $10,000 reward to help find those responsible for the inferno that destroyed the controversial food outlet during weekend protests over the death of Rayshard Brooks.
The restaurant was in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers, local TV showed.
By that time the building was reduced to charred rubble next to a gas station.
Protesters standing near the blaze condemned the woman for fanning the flames.
In video footage, they insisted Black Lives Matters supporters had not started the fire.
One man can be heard saying: “Look at the white girl trying to set s*** on fire.
“Look at that white girl trying to burn down a Wendy’s.
“This wasn’t us.”
Eva Snow, who lives in the neighborhood and often ate at the restaurant, told Atlanta Journal Constitution she blamed the blaze on white supremacists.
Snow said she knew people who saw white people igniting it.
But she defended the inferno, saying that Wendy’s deserved to be razed after opening for business hours after the death of Rayshard Brooks.
The Atlanta Police Department shared pics on Facebook of a masked woman they are seeking in connection to the blaze.
“Crime Stoppers of Greater Atlanta is offering a $10,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the individuals responsible for starting a fire that led to the destruction of a Wendy’s restaurant at 125 University Avenue in southwest Atlanta during protests that began Saturday, June 13 and lasted into the morning hours of June 14,” the force said.
Gerald Griggs, an attorney and a vice president of Atlanta’s NAACP chapter, told media there were about 150 people protesting at Wendy’s.
Joining the protest on Saturday, he told reporters: “The people are upset.
“They want to know why their dear brother Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed when he was merely asleep on the passenger side and not doing anything.”
Demonstrators had marched onto Interstate-75, stopping traffic, before police used a line of squad cars to hold them back.
As a result, fire engines were delayed responding to the fire – which threatened to ignite a nearby gas station.
The AJC reported that dozens of people gathered outside the burnt-out branch on Sunday morning.
Most of those visiting were laying flowers in a makeshift memorial for Brooks, while others were helping to clean up the the charred restaurant.
Bo Rodney, 54, told AJC: “The brother was running away.
“Deadly force was not necessary.
“We have so much anxiety and anger because of what white folks do to us on the daily – that could have been me.”
Brooks’ death reignited protests in Atlanta after days of worldwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality prompted by the death of George Floyd, an African American, in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
An autopsy conducted on Sunday showed that Brooks died from blood loss and organ injuries caused by two gunshot wounds, an investigator for the medical examiner said in a statement.
The manner of his death was homicide, it added.
Officer Garrett Rolfe could be placed in handcuffs within the next few days.
“Today, members of my staff had the unfortunate duty of witnessing the autopsy of Mr Brooks as part of our continued investigation,” said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.
“Because this is a homicide investigation, there are several technical requirements that must be met before we are able to reach a decision.”
L. Chris Stewart, a Brooks family lawyer, said the officer who shot him should be charged for “an unjustified use of deadly force, which equals murder.”
Brooks was gunned down when he tried to run away from Rolfe and other officers – and lawyers for his family say the officers covered their tracks by collecting their shell casings.
He had allegedly failed a sobriety test and took a stun gun from one of the cops.
Brooks, a father of four, had celebrated the eighth birthday of one of his daughters on Friday, according to Stewart.
Atlanta police on Sunday released body-camera and other footage related to the fatal shooting.
It is believed Brooks was chatting cooperatively with officers minutes before his death, saying he had a couple of drinks to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and agreeing to a breath test.
“I know you’re just doing your job,” Brooks says on video after consenting to the breath test.
”I just had a few drinks, that’s all.”
Rolfe does not tell Brooks the results of the test even though his body camera recorded a digital readout of 0.108 – higher than the 0.08-gram blood alcohol content considered too intoxicated to drive in Georgia.
“All right, I think you’ve had too much to drink to be driving,” Rolfe tells Brooks.
“Put your hands behind your back.”
They were later wrestling on the ground and fighting over the Taser before Brooks took the weapon and bolted.
Rolfe had worked for the police department since October 2013.
