According to an incident report obtained by the UK's Guardian, police fired rounds from a pepperball gun into the closed tent of 26-year-old Manuel Paez Terán, also known as Tortuguita, before an exchange of gunfire that resulted in the death of the environmental activist and the injury of an officer. Previous statements by the police suggested that Tortuguita had been the first to fire and that they killed Tortuguita in self-defense.

Armed police in tactical gear killed Tortuguita on the morning of January 18 as they swept through an Atlanta forest to clear activists who were camping there to prevent construction on a $90M police and fire department training facility known as “Cop City”.

The death of Tortuguita – the first time an environmental protester has been killed by police in US history – created headlines around the US and the world and further galvanised a protest movement against the huge project amid accusations of heavy-handed police action and some local Georgia politicians eager to depict the activists as “terrorists.”

The incident report reveals that police were the first to discharge a weapon on the scene when they fired the pepperball gun into Tortuguita’s tent, which was followed by gunshots they believed were coming from inside the tent. That lead officers to fire a barrage of shots blindly into the tent, killing Tortuguita inside. It also reveals that, while they rendered medical assistance to an injured officer, they did not immediately do the same for Tortuguita.

There are nine mentions of the phrase “domestic terrorist” or “domestic terrorists” used by officers in the 20-page police incident report, which Tortuguita’s family said showed the attitude they took towards anyone they encountered in the forest. The family said the reports “reveal that officers were fed a steady supply of hearsay and vague generalities about ‘domestic terrorists’ before entering the forest. It is clear that all law enforcement regarded any person in the forest as guilty of being a domestic terrorist.”

The police were told by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that the demonstrators might possess various weapons, including rifles, pistols, improvised explosive devices, and molotov cocktails. It warned that protesters had set “booby traps” in the forest, including trip wires and sharp nails and stakes that officers might step on, that “were designed and employed to seriously injure or kill them”.  The GBI also said that protesters in the trees might throw feces and urine on officers, and “it was known that some trespassers carried STDs” and this tactic might infect officers with STDs.

The clearing operation began before 9 am on January 18.  There were three search teams of officers deployed into the forest, and Team 2 was a SWAT team that included bureau agents, officers from Atlanta police department, and rangers from the Department of Natural Resources who had police dogs. Team 2 planned to enter their “area of operation” from Constitution Road, moving from south to north on the west side of the forested property. They encountered several demonstrators in tents, but said they were not aggressive.

They then approached a larger encampment. As they approached Tortuguita's tent from behind, one officer said he could see movement inside the tent, although the door flap to the tent was closed. Officers said they identified themselves as police and ordered Tortuguita to exit the tent, but they stayed put. One officer said he told Tortuguita they did not want to cause them harm and would guarantee their safety if they complied.

After the pepperball gun was fired, the gunfire started. Police believed the shots were coming from inside the tent. One officer pulled another out of the way, causing the other to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Another officer wrote that he believed the fallen officer had been shot. The officers returned fire into the tent. 

Officers said they heard a bang and saw a white cloud of smoke, which they believed to be an explosive device detonated by Tortuguita. They believed Tortuguita “was still an active threat.”  After the shooting stopped, an officer wrote that he heard a voice call “cease fire, cease fire” and then heard a voice from his left side say, “I’m hit, I’m hit.” Police believed that Tortuguita shot the officer. Medics immediately provided medical care to the injured officer, but medical care was not immediately provided to Tortuguita. An independent autopsy released by Tortuguita’s family showed they were shot at least 13 times.

The Team 2 officers were not qearing body cams and no video evidence of the shooting is available. Body-cam footage from a different team shows officers discussing the audible shooting minutes later, with one officer asking, “Did they shoot their own man?”