Overview

Scout Schultz was an intersex 21-year-old student at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) who was fatally shot during a late night encounter with the campus police officers in late September 2017. In the wake of the shooting, a series of anti-police brutality protests and vigils were organized on campus, as well as prompting an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Background

At around 11:17 p.m. (EST) on September 16th, 2017, Georgia Tech Police Depeartment (GTPD) received a 911 call about a suspicious person carrying a knife, and possibly armed with a gun, on campus. Upon arriving at the scene, four police officers approached Scout Schultz, a fourth-year computer engineering major at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the president of the school's Pride Alliance, who refused to drop a pocketknife and continued to walk towards the police while shouting "shoot me!" During the standoff, Schultz was fatally shot by GTPD officer Tyler Beck and pronounced dead upon arriving at the Grady Memorial Hospital.

Developments

Video Recording

On September 17th, 2017, YouTuber Stop/Rest uploaded footage of Schultz confronting police (shown below). In the video, Schultz can be heard yelling "Shoot me!" at officers. Within 48 hours, the video gathered upwards of 145,000 views and 1,100 comments.

[This video has been removed]

Protests

On September 18th, 2017, outraged students held protests against the police officer's use of force. On September 19th, ABC News reported that violent demonstrators assaulted police officers and set a police vehicle on fire while protesting the shooting (shown below). According to The Washington Post,^[4] students holding a banner displaying the message "Protect LGBTQ" headed toward a police station while chanting "This is not ok" prior to the eruption of violence.

Online Reaction

On September 17th, Redditor Metlover submitted a post titled "In Memoriam: Scout Schultz" to the /r/gatech^[3] subreddit, providing condolences and links for students suffering from the incident. Meanwhile, Redditor gt-throw submitted a post titled "A countering viewpoint of Scout Schultz," arguing that Schultz was not a victim and that police handled the situation properly. Within 48 hours, the post received over 500 points (77% upvoted) on /r/gatech.^[2]

Official Response

On September 18th, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) released a statement identifying Schultz as the person who alerted the GTPD about a suspicious person on campus, described as "a white male, with long blonde hair, white t-shirt and blue jeans." The GBI officials confirmed that a pocketknife, which was part of a multitool, was recovered from the site, though no firearms were found. Furthermore, the GBI revealed that a total of three suicide notes were found in Schultz’s dormitory room during the investigation.