Killing of Jamarion Robinson

Incident

On August 5, 2016, officers from a Southeast Regional Fugitive Taskforce comprising at least seven agencies and led by U.S. Marshals forcibly entered the apartment of Robinson's girlfriend to serve a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was for charges of attempted arson and aggravated assault of a police officer. Police stated that Robinson refused to exit the apartment and was seen with a gun, and that he was repeatedly ordered to put down the weapon and fired at them three times.

A cellphone video recorded by a nearby resident captured the sounds of the shooting, which lasted nearly three minutes. A few weeks earlier, Robinson's mother had called police seeking mental health assistance for him; he had poured gasoline under his bed and in front of her bedroom. She informed police of his recent paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, but no mental health practitioners accompanied the raid. According to an investigator hired by the family, after killing Robinson, officers handcuffed his hands behind his back, dragged his body downstairs, and threw a flash-bang grenade after the shooting, which the family alleged was an attempt to confuse the investigation.

The body was found wearing an oxygen rebreathing mask. A pathologist found that Robinson had been shot through the palms of both hands. At a pretrial hearing, it was alleged that officers continued shooting after Robinson became unresponsive; the bystander audio includes three shots fired after the grenade explosion, following a lull in shooting when Robinson was on the ground and showed no response to the grenade.

Investigation

Bullets recovered at the scene included 9 mm, .40 caliber H&K submachine gun bullets, and .40 caliber Glock ammunition. Two 9 mm bullets were found embedded deep into the floor at the top of the stairwell by the family's investigator, appearing to have been fired directly downwards into Robinson or the floor. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation stated that Robinson had been repeatedly ordered to put down a weapon and that a handgun believed to be associated with Robinson was recovered; officers reported that Robinson fired at them three times. The family's lawsuit claimed the handgun was damaged and inoperable.

Legal action

In January 2018, Robinson's family filed a lawsuit alleging that Robinson posed no immediate threat and that officers violated his civil rights, conspiring to stop, seize, shoot, and injure him, destroy evidence, file false reports, and make false statements. The suit named officers from the U.S. Marshals Service and police or fire departments of Atlanta, Clayton County, East Point, Fayette County, and Fulton County. District Attorney Paul Howard attempted to investigate but the U.S. Marshals Service did not cooperate.

On December 28, 2018, he filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to provide information under Freedom of Information Act requests, stating that federal authorities prevented prosecutors from interviewing involved officers and refused to turn over documents; more than 90 rounds had been fired into or within the apartment. In January 2019, Howard withdrew subpoenas in a 'spirit of cooperation' after procedural objections.

In June 2020, Robinson's family said they had lost confidence in Howard's investigation, with his mother stating he had failed her family and not indicted the officers despite nearly four years of promises. On October 27, 2021, U.S. Marshal Eric Heinze and Clayton County Police officer Kristopher Hutchens were criminally charged with felony murder, burglary, aggravated assault, and making false statements in connection with the shooting.

Protest action

The death of Jamarion Robinson was one of several cases spotlighted during the National Day of Outrage on October 28, 2019, alongside Atatiana Jefferson, Kendrick Johnson, Nicholas Thomas, and Jimmy Atchison. The New Black Panther Party organized marches to honor African Americans killed by police, and students at the Atlanta University Center used the hashtag #AUCShutItDown to show support for Robinson’s family. The case also drew attention during the nationwide protests that followed George Floyd’s death in May 2020.

One of the officers involved in Robinson’s shooting was later arrested in June 2020 on charges of aggravated assault and property damage for tasing two students in a car during a protest near the Atlanta University Center. That officer had a history of excessive force allegations, including a 1990s shooting that killed an unarmed shop customer and led to a $1.4 million settlement from the city, as well as the 2012 shooting of another unarmed man.

Did You Know?

• Jamarion Robinson had been a biology student at Clark Atlanta University and a running back on the football teams of CAU and Tuskegee University.
• He had no criminal record other than a series of misdemeanor traffic violations in the previous two years.
• Police showed a photo of the man they were seeking to his grandmother, who said 'That's not my grandson.'