None of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of an Atlanta environmental protester will be charged in connection with their death, a Georgia District Attorney’s Office determined last week.

The officers — Georgia State Police Troopers Mark Lamb, Jonathan Salcedo, Bryland Myers, Renaldo Regal, Royce Zah and Jerry Parrish — were publicly identified for the first time in a 31-page report authored by Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George R. Christian.

In the report, Christian determined that the officers all acted reasonably and without criminal intent. Therefore, no charges would be brought against them in connection with the January death of 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Terán or “Tortuguita.”

The incident happened during a sweep of the grounds surrounding the new The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, or “Cop City,” as it was being constructed.

At the time of the sweep, some activists had been camped out in the South River Forest demonstrating against the site, citing environmental concerns involved with razing 85 acres of wooded area for the facility, estimated to cost $90 million.

Trooper Lamb was the first officer to locate the tent with Paez Terán inside. The officer asked the protestor, who used they/them pronouns, to exit the tent, the report states. Paez Terán allegedly opened the tent and said, “No, I want you to leave” before closing the tent.

At that point, Trooper Myers fired pepper balls into the tent after warning Paez Terán that force would be used against them, according to the report. Paez Terán then allegedly returned fire from a 9 mm pistol legally purchased in 2020, prompting officers to fire their guns into the tent. Parrish sustained a gunshot wound near his spine from the incident, the report notes.

Later, the troopers noticed white smoke coming from the tent, which they believed to have been from an improvised explosive device (IED) deployed by Paez Terán. After a ceasefire was ordered, Parrish was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. The gun allegedly used by Paez Terán was taken by law enforcement officials.

Kamau Franklin, an activist demonstrating against the new public safety training center called the report “lies.”

“They created a Rambo figure to justify this killing,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “They got Teran shooting and throwing IEDs at police in a cloth tent, which is impossible to reconcile with the autopsy,” he said, pointing out how a state autopsy report found Paez Terán had been shot 57 times.

Another independent report produced by the activist’s family concluded that they were sitting with their legs crossed and hands up when they were shot.

In a press release responding to Christian’s decision, Brian Spears, an attorney representing Paez Terán’s family said, “This report is a rubber stamp of the GBI’s version of events without any critical analysis.”

Spears criticized the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) decision to decline open records requests pertaining to the case as a criminal investigation into the shooting remains ongoing, potentially denying Paez Terán’s family access to critical information surrounding their death for years.

“If there is nothing to hide, then show us the evidence,” Jeff Filipovits, another attorney representing the family said, adding that they were under the impression that once the District Attorney’s report was complete the GBI would release underlying evidence connected to the case.

“Now, the District Attorney has stated that his office will not produce the underlying evidence.” The District Attorney’s report is based on photographs, audio witness interviews, crime scene drawings and reports, forensic lab reports, and body camera audio and video—none of which have been provided to the family,” the statement continued.

Paez Terán’s mother, Belkis Terán, publicly pleaded for the GBI to release the information to them.

“We have waited eight months for the truth,” she said. “We are in pain. We want to hear the interviews. We want our experts to review the lab tests. We want our questions answered. This report does not answer our questions.

“How long must we wait?”