Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has reopened an investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white Union City police officer following an Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News investigation into the controversial shooting.
“The case has been reopened at the request of the district attorney,” said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Sherry Lang. “We have conducted additional interviews with officers who claim to have information about the incident. We are doing that in conjunction with the district attorney’s office.”
A Fulton grand jury declined to indict former Union City Police officer Luther Lewis for murder and other charges in the death of Ariston Waiters, who ran from Lewis in a Union City neighborhood the night of Dec. 14, 2011. Waiters, 19, was shot twice in the back at close range. There were no witnesses to the shooting. Lewis said the teen went for his gun.
But the supervising officer on the scene said Lewis told him a different version of the shooting and only mentioned a struggle for his gun hours later.
"Mr. Waiters died senselessly," Union City Police Officer Chris McElroy told the AJC and Channel 2. "It's not sat right with me from the very first time I arrived on the scene."
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