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I last wrote on this case in May of 2021 in The Rayshard Brooks Case. Update 8: Public Safety And The Rule Of Law.  To find every article in this series, enter “rayshard brooks” into the SMM home page search bar, or select “Rayshard Brooks Case” in the “post Categories” pull down menu on the right hand side of the SMM home page.  I concluded that 8th Update thus:

And what might that outcome be?  Surely, the only actually just outcome would be the complete dismissal of all charges.  Will that happen?  It appears the Atlanta justice system is taking a holiday.  No one wants to touch this one.  That’s not only incompetent but foolish.  Nothing less than Rolfe’s blood will satisfy the BLM/Antifa/DOJ mob.  Should charges be dismissed, it will not matter whether it’s done tomorrow or a year from now.  The results—‘mostly peaceful protests’—will be the same.

In the meantime, during this holiday from justice, we might contemplate how we’ve come to allow Marxist thugs to so control and derange our justice system and to shake the foundations of the Republic.  Rayshard Brooks is no martyr.  He’s among the last people anyone should emulate.  The same is true of Paul Howard.

Americans are becoming tired, very tired, of being called racist, particularly when its on behalf of Marxist sedition and race hustling, all to the detriment of actual public safety and the rule of law.

When a violent Black thug is injured or killed by an honest citizen and/or police officer in self-defense, or on the lawful execution of their duty, they are immediately elevated to sainthood, at least in the media if not the Catholic Church.

Trayvon Martin

Saint Trayvon Martin of Skittles, on the night of his death, was casing homes in a neighborhood recently blanketed by residential burglaries committed by young black men.  He had marijuana in his bloodstream and was carrying two of the three essential ingredients for an illicit drug concoction.  He ambushed, and was brutally beating, George Zimmerman to death when Zimmerman managed to stop him.  Immediately, Martin, who was temporarily living with his father because he had been suspended from school—not his first suspension–for possessing burglary tools and jewelry stolen in a nearby burglary, suddenly became a budding scholar and paragon of virtue, this despite his social media presence full of drugs, guns and violence.  The media attempted to counter all of this by publishing photos of a 12 year-old, smiling Martin.  Years after his death, it was suddenly discovered he was also a promising pilot.  The SMM Martin archive is here. 

Michael Brown
credit: the political insider.com

Michael Brown, a 6’4”, nearly 300 pound recent high school graduate and daily pot smoker had just committed his first—that we know of—strong arm robbery when he and his pot smoking pal were stopped by a police officer.  Brown immediately began to beat the officer and tried to take his handgun.  During the struggle, the officer barely managed to retain his weapon and shot Brown, superficially wounding him in the hand.  Brown fled, but quickly turned around and made a berserker, head down, charge at the officer, who was forced to shoot and kill him.  Brown was also depicted as a scholar, and a “gentle giant,” a paragon of the community, who pled “hands up; don’t shoot.”  None of that was true, but “hands up; don’t shoot” continues to be a holy social justice meme.  His social media presence was characterized by thuggish and drug imagery. So clear was the officer’s legitimate use of force, even the Holder/Obama DOJ, the most racist until the current DOJ, was forced to admit it was justified.  The SMM Brown archive is here.  

credit: usatoday

George Floyd was a violent felon with prior convictions on the day he tried to pass counterfeit money.  Despite having several deadly health conditions, he was full of meth, fentanyl and pot.  He violently resisted arrest and killed himself by drug overdose, which aggravated his grave health problems.

credit: blogs.scientificamerican.com

To this day, Floyd is depicted as an innocent victim of racism and police brutality despite even the racist, Islamist Attorney General of Minnesota’s prosecution of the officers never raising racism at trial.  Streets have been named after him, and he has attained the status of a holy social justice, anti-racist martyr.  The SMM Floyd archive is here.  

And now we come to Rayshard Brooks, a convicted felon, multi-felony loser, who was so drunk he passed out in a Wendy’s drive up lane.  On parole, he admitted, not long before that night, if he was arrested again he was surely going back to prison.  Though the two officers—who didn’t know he was on parole–handled him professionally, even gently, he violently resisted arrest, brutally beat both of them—he was much larger and stronger than the officers–stole an officer’s Taser and fled.  When one officer pursued him, he turned and fired the Taser, narrowly missing the officer’s face.  The officer, seeing a flash and hearing a report, returned fire, killing Brooks.  Brooks immediately became another social justice martyr, a devoted family man who wasn’t really passed out drunk, but was intending to take one of his daughters skating.

Apart from occasionally mentioning the “devoted family man and social justice martyr” narrative, the national media has been essentially silent on Brooks.  There have, however, been some developments, reported on local media, which maintains the narrative, and on the occasional blog.  We begin with a June 18, 2021 post at Mining Awareness.

NOTE: I always provide links to the sources I use.  It’s up to readers to take those links to determine how trustworthy the sources are.  Interestingly enough, blogs are often far more truthful, and have far greater fidelity to traditional journalistic ethics than the media.

The earliest record that we have found, thus far, of Rayshard Brooks was arrest by the Atlanta Police Dept for “ARMED ROBBERY and ARMED ROBBERY KIDNAPPING WITH BODILY INJURY,” in 2010 (when he was a juvenile of 17). His criminal record continued up until this year: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/atlanta-police-shooting-rayshard-brooks-out-on-parole-past-crimes-include-cruelty-to-children-family-violence-battery-theft-credit-card-fraud-more/https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/rayshard-brooks-fugitive-warrant-extradition-december-2019/

Rayshard Brooks was a violent criminal and appears to have been a gang member. These look like gang members that Rayshard Brooks called “family” on his facebook page: http://archive.vn/E3woO They are dressed primarily in red, which suggests that they are some iteration of “Bloods” gangs. Most of the gangs in Atlanta are under the “Bloods”, according to law enforcement: https://youtu.be/AtZmaALS_RI

The hand sign in these photos may be the Almighty Vice Lords http://archive.vn/VsHxl, which are allied with Bloods gangs and with them under the People Nation umbrella. The red color suggest Bloods (blue is Crips). Here Rayshard has a red scarf, while doing a gang hand sign http://archive.vn/5JheiHere Rayshard’s tattoos can be seen, along with the gang hand signhttp://archive.vn/SGPOH His tattoos include a five point star, which is Bloods-People Nation. This diagram about the Almighty Vice Lords shows their colors as red and includes the five point star, as well as the same hand sign, that Rayshard and his apparent friends, which he called “family” used: http://archive.vn/VsHxl

The real kicker is the CNN photos, where Rayshard’s picture, in faux fur, is followed by Rayshard doing his gang hand sign in the gang color (red) hat over someone’s grave. He also has a necklace which seems to be a yet to be identified gang-related symbol (V and a backwards L?): http://archive.vn/PzC5N Why is he doing that gang hand sign over the grave? Did he murder that person? Trump is right on one thing – CNN is fake news. This failure to examine Rayshard’s past is one of the biggest cover-ups ever, especially since they have photo evidence.

CNN finally allowed an honest expert on air, but tried to put words in his mouth, to no avail: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2020/06/18/black-georgia-sheriff-explains-that-rayshard-brooks-shooting-was-justified/

Apart from the more recent crimes, https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/atlanta-police-shooting-rayshard-brooks-out-on-parole-past-crimes-include-cruelty-to-children-family-violence-battery-theft-credit-card-fraud-more/
Rayshard Brooks has a record in the Fulton County jail, from 2010 – apparently as a juvenile offender, arrested by the Atlanta Police Dept, which includes “ARMED ROBBERY and ARMED ROBBERY KIDNAPPING WITH BODILY INJURY.” http://justice.fultoncountyga.gov/PAJailManager/JailingSearch.aspx?ID=400

There is a great deal more information in this post.  By all means, take the link and see for yourself.  It ended with this:

Disclaimer:  With the publicly available evidence we cannot be 100% certain that Rayshard was a gang member, but with the available evidence, we put the probability at 99.9%. We can, however, be certain that he was a criminal with a track record of violence.  He lived a violent life and he died a violent death. The criminal justice system appears to have been too lenient with him, based on the available evidence.  Perhaps this is why he apparently died unreformed.

A regular reader provided what appears to be an excerpt from a Georgia Bureau of Investigation report, though their documentation doesn’t allow me to absolutely confirm that.  It does appear to be authentic.  Regular readers will recall the GBI investigated the case, but has not released its findings.  I suspect when they do, the current prosecutor—more on that shortly—will be in a very uncomfortable position.  The excerpt:

GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

10-0304-34-20

SA JONES entered the examination room and learned that the autopsy had already started. Present with SA JONES was Fulton County Assistant District Attorney SHANEAH JENKINS and Fulton County District Attorney Investigator GREG THOMAS. SA JONES asked Investigator THOMAS if an external examination with photos had taken place. Investigator THOMAS advised SA JONES that it had and that the doctor could provide more information on their observations. SA JONES noticed tattoos on the right shoulder of BROOKS. The tattoos appeared to depict some sort of star and the face of some sort of figure. SA JONES believed that the tattoos were gang in nature.

The Bloods are one of the most vicious, violent, racist gangs in existence.  Keep in mind Brooks was a multi-felony loser, and surely understood the rules of the criminal underworld.  One does not wear Bloods tattoos unless one is a member in good standing.  Should one get the tats and pretend, at the very least, they’ll find those tats being removed by knife or fire, and most likely, either or both just before they meet a violent and bloody death.  It Brooks was indeed wearing Bloods tats, it’s certain he was a member, or incredibly stupid, sucidal and living on borrowed time.  He seems, more and more, something less than a saint.

Let’s visit a local ABC News report from July 21, 2021:

Georgia’s attorney general announced Wednesday that he has appointed the head of a prosecutors’ group to oversee the criminal case against the police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks.

Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, will serve as substitute prosecutor in the case against Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, Attorney General Chris Carr’s office said.

The council is a government agency that supports Georgia prosecutors and their staff, including by providing training and professional development. Carr’s office described Skandalakis in a statement as a ‘well-respected, experienced prosecutor.’

Regular readers will, again recall the former prosecutor, Paul Howard, a black prosecutor rather than a prosecutor who happened to be black, immediately filed charges against the officers long before the investigation was complete.  He lost his job, defeated by Fani Willis, and is currently under criminal investigation.  Willis, who won in part by criticizing his handling of the case, quickly developed cold prosecutorial feet:

A judge last month granted a request by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to recuse herself from the case against Rolfe.

Willis, who took office in January, had argued that actions by her predecessor, Paul Howard, made it inappropriate for her office to handle the prosecution of Rolfe. She had asked a judge to determine who should handle the case after Carr twice rejected her requests to recuse herself.

I have not seen the finished GBI report, but it’s hard to imagine it says anything other than that the officers were entirely justified in their actions.  This would make it very difficult for Skandalakis to pursue the prosecution.  Difficult, that is, under normal conditions.  Should he drop the case, It’s a virtual certainty Atlanta will, once again, go up in flames.

AJC.com, on August 6, 2021, added to the information about Brooks’ gang affiliation:

In the weeks following the death of Rayshard Brooks, the streets near a southwest Atlanta Wendy’s where he was shot by an officer became a flashpoint in the nation’s ongoing protests over police violence.

Mixed in with the peaceful protesters was a threatening band of armed young men who blocked the street and seized a city block from authorities, effectively controlling at gunpoint who could come and go.

On Thursday evening, new GBI arrest warrants in the shooting death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner revealed that some in the group were a violent street gang, the Bloods. They were part of an uprising in response to the death of Brooks, who was one of their own, according to a warrant.

‘The Bloods gang and its associates operated the area as an ‘autonomous zone’ in which the sovereign authority of the City and State were not recognized, and the Bloods gang exerted all control,’ according to the warrant filed this

The new public narrative involving the gang’s control of an Atlanta neighborhood is outlined in the GBI arrest warrant of one of two alleged gang members charged in Turner’s July 4, 2020, killing. It has renewed questions about Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her administration’s management of the crisis that followed the Brooks shooting last year.

It was unclear Friday if public officials knew last year that armed men at the blockade were gang members. Police and other city officials would not directly address the issue.

Bottoms is claiming ignorance—an easy and believable claim for her in general—and so is Brooks’ remaining family:

In a statement, lawyers Chris Stewart and Justin Miller, who represent Brooks’ surviving relatives, said the family has “no knowledge or information regarding any alleged gang affiliation of Rayshard Brooks.”

Activist and civil rights attorney Gerald Griggs was at many of the protests during those weeks. Griggs said he didn’t view the gun-toting group who manned the barricades during the time he was there as anything other than ‘citizens of the neighborhood who were exercising their Second Amendment rights.’

Suuuuuure he did.  Take the link and read the rest.  An August 5, 2021 AJC.com story also supports Brooks’ Bloods affiliation:

The 23-year-old Stone Mountain man charged in last summer’s shooting death of an 8-year-old girl was a gang member involved in uprisings to protest the shooting of a fellow Bloods member, Rayshard Brooks, according to a Fulton County arrest warrant.

Jerrion McKinney is charged with murder, four counts of aggravated assault, pointing a gun or pistol at another, and 12 gang-related offenses in the July 4, 2020, death of the rising third-grader Secoriea Turner. He was taken into custody by the GBI on Wednesday.

Turner was killed when the Jeep that she, her mother and a male driver were in encountered a street barricade near a burned-out Wendy’s in southwest Atlanta. It was where, less than a month earlier, Brooks had been fatally shot by an Atlanta police officer.

The GBI said in the warrant, ‘Prior investigation determined that Brooks was a member/associate of the Bloods criminal street gang.’

Lawyers Chris Stewart and Justin Miller, who represent Brooks’ surviving relatives, said the family has ‘no knowledge or information regarding any alleged gang affiliation of Rayshard Brooks.’

Final Thoughts: being a member of a gang is not a hobby or part time job.  It’s one’s entire identity, a way of life with very specific, anti-social, violent expectations and rules.  The idea the family members of a gang member would not know they were in a gang is beyond absurd.

Natalie White
credit: atlantapolicefoundation

Natalie White, Brooks’ “girlfriend”—apparently his devotion to his family was somewhat flexible—has been arrested for her part in burning down the Wendy’s that had the misfortune of being the restaurant where Brooks passed out.  The photo depicts White celebrating as the restaurant goes up in flames.  She was among the “mostly peaceful protestors” who prevented firemen from putting out the blaze.  As I’ve already reported in previous updates, several others have also been arrested in that arson.  These are not nice, saintly people.

Garrett Rolfe (L), Devin Brosnan (R)

If the case against the officers, which should never have been brought in the first place, is resolved as it must be under the rule of law, all charges will be dropped.  Of course, Garret Rolfe and Devin Brosnan’s careers at the Atlanta PD are over, even if the charges are dropped.  They would have glowing neon targets perpetually painted on their backs.  I suspect their treatment has also rather soured them on law enforcement in general.

If, as I expect, social justice prevails, they will go to trial, where I fear for their liberty and lives. There is no way they’ll ever get a fair trial in Atlanta, just as no police officer could possibly get a fair trial in Minneapolis.

I’ll continue to report as developments warrant.

UPDATE, 08-14-21, 1910 MT:  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirms Rayshard Brooks, the saintly family man, was a member of a murderous gang:  

Two suspected gang members face potential sentences adding up to nearly 1,000 years in prison after a Fulton County grand jury on Friday handed down a 37-count indictment in the July 4, 2020 shooting death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner.

Julian Conley, arrested in the weeks following the shooting, faces two counts of felony murder and another for malice murder. Gang-related charges make up most of the other counts against Conley and co-defendant Jerrion McKinney.

According to Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis, Conley fired an AR-15 style rifle eight times at the Jeep carrying Secoriea and her mother, Charmaine Turner, after the driver of the vehicle attempted to bypass a barricade guarded by McKinney and others.

Tragic, senseless and utterly preventable, but what’s the connection to Brooks?

Armed civilians, identified in McKinney’s arrest warrant as members and affiliates of the Bloods street gang, had been manning a barricade on Pryor Road near the intersection of University Avenue for weeks, investigators say. The blockade was erected one day after Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe fatally shot Rayshard Brooks in the neighboring Wendy’s parking lot. Rolfe, facing felony murder and other charges, was swiftly fired by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms but later reinstated by the city’s Civil Service Board.

Willis said the Bloods were motivated to act because Brooks was one of their own.

‘There was outrage at that loss of life,’ she said.

So why did the City of Atlanta allow a violent gang to seize any part of the city and murder a little girl?  You know, gentle readers:

Lawyers representing Secoriea’s parents, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Atlanta, said elected officials and law enforcement also bear responsibility.

Sure.  The police bear responsibility because they dared to enforce the law against a Black gangbanger?  That and what else?  They failed to kick the Bloods out of the area?  I’m sure they would have loved to do just that, but the Mayor and other idiots surely wouldn’t allow it.  Read on.  You’ll see.

‘There are many more who will never be criminally indicted but should be indicted for their allowing a situation like this to happen in the city of Atlanta,’ attorney Mawuli Davis said Friday. ‘We’re clearer now than we’ve ever been that this was absolutely preventable and did not have to happen but for the city surrendering a block, a neighborhood, to what has now been described as a gang.’

According to the GBI, the Bloods created an ‘autonomous zone’ where police were prohibited and ‘the sovereign authority of the city and state were not recognized.’

Bottoms told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year that she wanted to clear the area but agreed to let City Council member Joyce Sheperd negotiate with the protesters in hopes of reaching a peaceful compromise. Those talks eventually broke down and on June 23, the barricade was removed by Atlanta police officers. Sheperd has declined to comment.

Riiiight.  The Mayor and other city “leaders” had no idea the Black thugs brandishing guns and threatening people’s lives were members of the Bloods.  They’re completely anonymous in Atlanta, unknown to anyone but other gang members.  And of course, no one was listening to the police in those days, or since.  The article repeats the innocent protestations of Brook’s family “we didn’t know he was in a gang.”  I’ve already explained what a transparent lie that is.

Take the link and read the whole thing.  More as it develops.