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Queer Indigenous Activist Tortuguita Shot and Killed by Police in Georgia
Tortuguita, an Indigenous Venezuelan who was also queer and nonbinary, was killed in Atlanta on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. They died from gunshots from police performing a “clearning operation.” They were 26 years old.
Officials claim Tortuguita fired their weapon first, wounding a law enforcement officer. Police claim to have returned fire when they shot them. Accounts vary about the sequence of events, but it is clearly established that the law enforcement agents participating in this operation did not have body worn camera. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp expressed condolences for the injured trooper, who was shot in the lower abdomen and whose condition has stabilized following surgery, but did not acknowledge Tortuguita’s death.
It doesn’t make sense to me that an experienced activist, committed to nonviolence, and with clearly documented statements denouncing violent protest tactics, would fire a single shot into what they know is a SWAT team surrounding their tent. That’s a clear death wish, as well as knowingly inciting violence upon their neighbors, and it does not seem consistent with what everyone is saying about this person. According to friends, there has been no information released about Tortuguita’s cause of death, the number of bullets that pieced their body, or any information…
