Georgia troopers who shot and killed ‘Stop Cop City’ militant will not be criminally charged

The troopers' use of lethal force, according to the Stone Mountain Circuit District Attorney's Office, was "objectively reasonable under the circumstances of the case," according to Fox 5.

Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, 26, who used they/them pronouns, was fatally shot by Georgia State Troopers after he allegedly shot one of their officers during a police operation to clear an Antifa-linked autonomous zone.

The incident occurred when Georgia State Troopers were ordered to clear the autonomous zone created at the construction site of the police training facility near Atlanta, in which Antifa militants took up arms to "defend the forest." The protests against this training facility have been widely referred to by far-left activists as "Stop Cop City."

Teran, who was an alleged gunman armed with a pistol that went by the name "Tortuguita," reportedly shot a trooper during the operation and left the officer significantly injured. Police responded by returning fire, which killed Teran.

Following the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and its law enforcement partners continued to clear the autonomous zone and several arrests were made of suspects—all of whom are from out of state. The GBI said they confiscated a cache of weapons that included mortar-style fireworks and edged weapons, TPM senior editor Andy Ngo reported at the time.

Seven of the suspects arrested at the autonomous zone were charged with domestic terrorism. Georgia authorities indicted an additional 61 Antifa-affiliated activists on RICO charges last month. A myriad of the 61 indicted also received domestic terrorism charges.

For months, Antifa members and other far-left extremists wreaked havoc in the Dekalb Forest, carrying out numerous attacks, setting up potentially deadly booby traps, and generally making it impossible for officials to move forward on the construction of the police facility. In March, they set fire to the facility which led to the indictments.

Additionally, other Antifa-affiliated activists received domestic terrorism charges for their alleged participation in a violent riot against police in downtown Atlanta in protest of their comrade, Teran, being killed.