Three people have been arrested following a vigil held Monday evening for a Georgia Tech student who was shot and killed by campus police over the weekend.
Police opened fire on fourth-year student Scott “Scout” Schultz, 21, Saturday night after he called 911 to report a suspicious person who was armed and possibly intoxicated, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said, as reported by CBS News. Police say Officer Tyler Beck shot Schultz after the student refused to comply with police commands to drop what police initially described as a knife, but the Schultz family attorney said was a multipurpose tool with its knife blade put away. No guns were found at the scene.
Protests against the police shooting turned violent Monday evening following a peaceful vigil. About 50 demonstrators marched to the campus police department where a police car was torched and two officers suffered minor injuries. Three people were arrested, though the university has not said whether or not they are Georgia Tech students.
In a letter to university staff and students, Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson said he thinks the problems were caused by “outside agitators.”
“We believe many of them were not part of our Georgia Tech community, but rather outside agitators intent on disrupting the event,” Peterson said. “They certainly did not honor Scout’s memory nor represent our values by doing so.”
Schultz was president of Pride Alliance at Georgia Tech and described himself as “bisexual, non binary and intersex.” His father, William Schultz, said his child had a 3.9 grade point average and would have graduated early in December.
At a press conference, Stewart and Schultz’s parents questioned why police did not respond to the situation with less-than-lethal force. Stewart said he intends to sue over the shooting.