ATLANTA — For months, Channel 2 Action News has been reporting on protestors taking aim at a proposed Atlanta police training facility in DeKalb County.
Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne has learned that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr wants to obtain a sweeping indictment against many suspected domestic terrorists targeting the facility.
“This is not Oregon. We are not Washington or New York or California. We’re Georgia. Do not come to our state and engage in violence against our citizens, against our law enforcement or break our laws. It will not be tolerated. You will be charged, and we will not stop until we make sure that everybody that’s been a part of this has been held accountable,” Carr said.
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On Wednesday, seven protestors were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after a raid that left a GSP trooper hospitalized and the man who shot him dead. None of them were from Georgia.
Six others were arrested in December and charged with domestic terrorism. All but one of them were from outside the state of Georgia.
Carr said his office and is working along DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston’s office to move forward on an indictment.
The attorney general says he was in the nearby command center as law enforcement began clearing protestors out of the area and a trooper was shot and the accused shooter killed in return fire.
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“It was infuriating, absolutely infuriating. And when you’re there with individuals, law enforcement, that you’re asking to do a job, and then one of those individuals isn’t going to go home to their family because of this act of violence, it’s very, very difficult,” Carr said.
Winne learned that Carr and DA Boston have been working alongside a task force with the GBI, FBI, ATF, DeKalb police and Atlanta police for months investigating dozens of domestic terrorism incidents allegedly linked to opposition to the training center.
Carr says he is not targeting peaceful protestors.
“I think it’s critically important to remember, protestors use words. They don’t use AR-15s. They don’t use handguns. They don’t throw Molotov cocktails at firefighters and construction workers. They don’t put spikes in trees,” he explained.
The attorney general also indicated to Winne that he is working closely with Governor Brian Kemp.
“Let me be clear, if you participated in, if you have aided or encouraged this violence against our community and against law enforcement, you can and you will be charged,” Carr said.
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