A CNN crew was attacked outside the Atlanta, Georgia, Wendy’s where 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was killed in a confrontation with police on Friday evening, as rioters began attacking and setting fire to the restaurant Saturday night.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms had already announced that police Chief Erika Shields was resigning over the incident, in which Brooks allegedly resisted arrest, seized an officer’s taser, and ran away before being shot three times.
Nevertheless, unrest broke out in the city, with a large group blocking Interstate 75 and another group setting fire to the Wendy’s. CNN was to film what it called “protests” as masked individuals attacked the Wendy’s, trying to destroy it.
CNN’s Natasha Chen later recounted to Wolf Blitzer: “There were protesters very angry that we were recording this, and tried to block our cameras … and at that point they got aggressive, and our CNN camera was broken.” Chen added that the “protesters” had also tried to stop her from filming with her personal cell phone. She and her crew left the area.