Family and friends of Linton Blackwell took to the podium at City Hall on Monday to express their frustration with the Atlanta City Council over the lack of accountability for police officers who use lethal force.

“I want to understand why this officer, Gerald Walker, is not being held accountable for my brother’s death. He was murdered and shot 17 times; he’s still working [and] being paid,” Veronica Grant said during public comment.

Walker was working an off-duty security job on the night of Oct. 11 when he shot and killed Blackwell in the parking lot behind the 5 Paces Inn, a popular bar in Buckhead. According to William Stanley, a witness who went to the bar with Blackwell that night, Walker patted both men down before they entered the bar and spoke like he and Blackwell had met before. Stanley was later killed outside a convenience store in DeKalb County on Jan. 6.

An autopsy performed by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office found that Blackwell, a father and local rapper who went by the stage name BGreen, had been shot 17 times in the back.

The shooting investigation is being handled by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The Atlanta Police Department’s internal affairs unit will conduct its own inquiry into the incident, however.

“We gotta stop the killing. And not just the community killing each other, we gotta stop the police from killing us. We gotta stop the police from harming our citizens of Atlanta,” Santana Lambert said to the council. He and Blackwell grew up together in East Lake Meadows, a former public housing project in east Atlanta.

Blackwell’s family has used the public comment period to call attention to the shooting before. On Dec. 1, after a number of Blackwell’s friends and family called for more transparency, the council unanimously passed a resolution to grant Blackwell’s family access to view the video recording of the incident. Walker was not wearing a body camera because he was off-duty, but the shooting was captured by a surveillance camera in the area.

Blackwell’s cousin Jimmy Hill told Capital B Atlanta that the family still hasn’t been allowed to watch the video. 

Mayor Andre Dickens’ office did not respond to Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment regarding the council’s resolution to allow Blackwell’s family to view the footage.

“This is not about a lack of information or power, this is about a lack of political will, lack of courage,” Hill told the council on Monday. 

Since the shooting, Capital B Atlanta has reported on Walker’s disciplinary history with the department, which included six violations related to body-worn camera and arrest procedures that were sustained by internal affairs.

For each of the violations, Walker received either a written or oral admonishment in accordance with APD’s standard operating procedures. 

Blackwell was the second person shot by Walker last year. On March 26, he shot Travis Walker, no relation, while responding to a 911 call at an auto repair shop in Sylvan Hills.

Brandon Pink, a community organizer with the Atlanta Alliance Against Racism and Political Oppression, told council members that officers should not be given special treatment just because they have a badge.

“It was a failure by APD to allow this officer to continue to be on the force even after the multiple violations and misconduct issues that he had,” Pink said. 

A spokesperson for the APD confirmed to Capital B Atlanta that Walker is still employed with the police department but has been reassigned from the field operations division.

In his six minutes of speaking time, Hill accused council members of offering little more than lip service to the families of police brutality victims until they hold law enforcement to a higher standard.

“Why haven’t you used your power to stop officers with repeat violations from staying on the force?” he said. “You have the power and you have to use it. You refuse to use it. Until you do, your condolences are really just to make yourself feel better.” 

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Madeline Thigpen is Capital B Atlanta's criminal justice reporter.