Killing of Anthony Hill

Anthony Hill was a Black US Air Force veteran who was fatally shot by a White police officer on March 9, 2015 in Chamblee, Georgia, near Atlanta. Hill suffered from mental illness and was naked and apparently unarmed at the time of the incident. The incident was covered in local and national press and sparked the involvement of Black Lives Matter and other advocacy groups who demonstrated their support for Hill. In January 2016, a grand jury indicted the officer responsible for Hill's death.

Shooting

Anthony Hill, a veteran of the United States Air Force who had served in Afghanistan, was 27 years old and, according to his family, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He had been medically discharged from the Air Force two years before after being diagnosed withbipolar disorder. On a Twitter account apparently belonging to Hill, he acknowledged suffering from . According to his girlfriend, he had recently stopped taking his medication, and it was not known whether he was still off of the medicine at the time of his shooting.

Hill was noted to be acting erratically when police were called; he had jumped from his second-story balcony in his apartment complex, and his speech was not understandable. He had reportedly been running around the complex naked and knocking on doors and lying and crawling on the ground. A worker in the apartment complex called 911. The caller told Hill's family's lawyer that she had called in order to get medical personnel to come for Hill.

Officer Robert Olsen, employed by the Dekalb County Police Department for seven years, was dispatched to the scene and found him in the parking lot of the complex. Olsen waited in his car for several minutes, possibly for backup, when Hill began approaching from about 180 feet away. Olsen exited the car and began moving backward. Hill, apparently unarmed, ran toward Officer Olsen, who stepped back and called to him to stop. When Hill charged Olsen and failed to comply with orders to stop, Olsen shot him twice. They were three to five feet apart when the shots were fired. Hill died there. Olsen had also been carrying a Taser and pepper spray, but DeKalb Police Chief Cedric Alexander said Olsen chose the firearm over those options. Several residents witnessed the shooting.

Aftermath

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) began investigating the shooting within days, and Olsen was placed on administrative leave for the duration. He remained on paid leave through the time of the criminal grand jury hearing. In April 2015 the GBI handed its findings over to the district attorney.

The shooting prompted outcry about the police department's approach to handling people with mental illness, as well as critiques about race. The shooting came in the wake of national social unrest and racial debate after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, which inspired the Black Lives Matter movement. As they had in other parts of the country, protests arose in Atlanta over race and police killings and use of excessive force. Hill had remarked on the national debate three days prior to his death, posting on Facebook, “[t]he key thing to remember is, #blacklivesmatter, ABSOLUTELY, but not more so than any other life.” He remarked via Twitter, “[i]f 99 out of 100 cops [are] killing black men like its hunting season that leaves 1 just doing his job.” In the context of increased attention of police killings of racial minorities, prosecutors face greater pressure.

Hill's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Officer Olsen, the police department, Dekalb county, and its department of commissioners.

Grand jury

A civil grand jury convened in October 2015 determined that the shooting should be further investigated. Olsen had told the jury that he had felt threatened by Hill. It decided that a criminal grand jury would hear the evidence.

In January 2016, District Attorney Robert D. James Jr. of DeKalb County announced that he would ask the criminal grand jury to indict, and that a warrant had been issued for Olsen's arrest. Two weeks later, on January 21, 2016, the criminal grand jury indicted Officer Olsen for two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of making a false statement and two counts of violation of oath by a public officer. Felony murder implies the defendant killed someone while committing another felony; the two felonies are the assault and violation of oath charges. The district attorney said that Olsen was charged with making a false statement because he had told another officer during the investigation that Hill had hit him in the chest. He also said the violation of oath charges had to do with his violation of department rules and use of force.

Olsen turned himself in that day and was granted a bond of $110,200 and released.

Olsen's indictment marked the first time in at least six years that an officer was charged with murder in Georgia for shooting someone while on duty. Protesters supporting Hill had camped outside the courthouse for days before the grand jury announced its decision. A crowd of several dozen began cheering and chanting when the decision to indict was announced outside the courthouse. Groups involved in the protest included Black Lives Matter and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.