Police identify naked man, officer who shot him dead in Georgia

Officials in Georgia have identified an unarmed man they described as naked and deranged when he was shot and killed by police on Monday.

Anthony Hill, 27, died after DeKalb County Police Officer Robert Olsen, a seven-year veteran of the department, shot him on Chamblee Tucker Road around 1 p.m. Monday, according to Capt. Steven Fore, a Police Department spokesman.

Fore would not say if Olsen had prior law enforcement experience or had served in the military before coming to DeKalb County. The officer remains on administrative leave as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation probes the circumstances of the shooting.

Olsen and other officers were responding to a report of a suspicious person at a DeKalb County apartment complex and found Hill “acting kind of deranged and running around the complex,” Fore said.

Hill, who was naked, charged at Olsen, who fired two shots, Fore said. Hill died at the scene.

Olsen was carrying a stun gun, but did not use the device, Fore said.

Calls to the Bureau of Investigation and the county medical examiner seeking additional comment were not immediately returned.

Court records show Hill had been arrested several times by Atlanta police for marijuana possession, obstructing an officer’s performance and disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear if Hill had any prior interactions with the county Police Department.

On his public Facebook page, Hill, who is black, made several references to the #BlackLivesMatter social media movement, which has become synonymous with the string of police shootings of unarmed black men that have sparked a national conversation over race and police policy in the past year.

“No man (or woman) is ever going to stop me from living the life I envision. I don’t care if he’s white, black or green because I know my life matters,” he wrote in a March 6 post. “It starts with one. Empower yourself. Show these kids that #blacklivesmatter by living yours like it does.”

The posts could be taken as a grim omen, as Hill’s name is now likely to be associated with the movement. His death was one of three fatal police shootings to generate national attention over the weekend.

Just hours before Hill was shot, nearly 2,000 protesters flooded the Wisconsin statehouse to protest the March 6 shooting of 19-year-old Tony Robinson, who was killed after he allegedly charged at a Madison police officer. Robinson was unarmed.

On Monday, police in Aurora, Colo., also determined a man who was shot and killed by a SWAT team member on March 6 had been unarmed at the time.

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