Days after new details were released in a deadly officer-involved shooting, an Atlanta police officer at the center of the shooting retired, the department confirmed.
Sung Kim, a 26-year veteran with Atlanta police, retired from the department Wednesday. “We will not be commenting further on this personnel matter,” Atlanta police said in an emailed statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
On Jan. 22, Kim fatally shot Jimmy Atchison, a 21-year-old father of two. Atchison was wanted for stealing a cellphone in an alleged armed robbery, but was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
Atchison family attorney Tanya Miller shared the findings from a GBI investigation into Atchison’s death at a press conference Monday. GBI policy prohibits the agency from discussing an open investigation.
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Kim was assigned to a federal fugitive task force overseen by the FBI at the time of the shooting. Atlanta police no longer partner on federal task forces because the agencies won’t allow officers to wear body cameras.
The new findings revealed Atchison was given two conflicting commands as he hid in a closet. One task force member told him to come out with his hands up. Another member told him not to move.
As Atchison stepped out of the closet with his hands up, Kim fatally shot Atchison once in the face, Miller said at the press conference. Kim told investigators he believed Atchison was holding a weapon, but no one had seen him with a gun that day.
Miller has filed two separate $20 million lawsuits against the City of Atlanta and the FBI.
The suits were put on hold until Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard turns over the GBI’s investigative file.
“Our office is investigating the matter and it is one of our highest priority cases,” D.A. spokesman Chris Hopper told the AJC earlier this week.
— Staff writer Christian Boone contributed to this report.
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