Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr released a statement Friday after DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced she was withdrawing her office from the prosecution of all current cases related to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in unincorporated DeKalb County.
Please see my full statement below on the DeKalb County District Attorney’s decision to no longer assist in our case. pic.twitter.com/eeWV0Q4Cxi
— GA AG Chris Carr (@Georgia_AG) June 23, 2023
“While the District Attorney has decided to no longer assist in this case, our office is fully committed to moving forward with the prosecution of those who have engaged in or supported violent acts surrounding the Public Safety Training Center,” Carr stated.
“If you shoot police officers, throw Molotov cocktails at law enforcement, vandalize private homes and businesses, and set fire to police vehicles and offices, you will be held accountable. We will not waver when it comes to keeping Georgians safe and putting a stop to violent crime in our state,” Carr said.
In a press release Friday, Boston cited a “fundamental difference in prosecutorial philosophy” as a result of her office’s discussions with “a multi-jurisdictional group of law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating and prosecuting acts of domestic terrorism and related charges occurring in and around the future site of the training center.”
As a result, Boston announced that Carr’s office will handle the prosecution of pending cases stemming from incidents surrounding the training center moving forward.
“My team and I have worked diligently to reach a consensus with the Attorney General’s Office on charging decisions in these cases,” Boston stated. “At this point, I have decided it is best that we allow them to move forward with the charges they feel are warranted.”
The training center was approved by the Atlanta City Council in September 2021 and has been a source of controversy ever since.
In March, a large group of protesters launched a coordinated attack on Atlanta police officers and construction equipment at the location of the future training center. Many of those protesters, as previously reported by The Georgia Star News, were arrested and face charges of domestic terrorism.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network.
Photo “Chris Carr” by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. Photo “Sherry Boston” by Governor Brian P. Kemp Office of the Governor. Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by Andre m. CC BY-SA 3.0.
