Atlanta police kill 62-year-old Johnny Hollman
Atlanta, GA – On Thursday, August 14, over 100 protesters gathered in front of the Atlanta Police Department headquarters demanding justice for Johnny Hollman, holding signs and chanting “Justice for Johnny Hollman!” and “Indict, convict, send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”
Johnny Hollman was a church deacon, a father of five, and a grandfather to 26, who was murdered at the hands of Atlanta police on August 10 after getting into a minor car accident and calling 911 for help. He called his daughter after the police showed up and she stayed with him on the line. The cop was detaining Hollman and shot him with a taser, and that is when he went unresponsive. His daughter on the other end of the call heard her father crying for help and came to the scene to find him lying on the street receiving chest compressions. His family demands answers from the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and justice for the murder of their beloved Johnny Hollman.
Johnny Hollman’s daughter, Arnitra Fallins, spoke to the crowd saying, “Y’all took his life and we’re in outrage. I’m very upset and I keep saying, from the moment I stepped on the scene I've been in outrage, and I keep saying: you murdered my dad. You killed my dad. My brother was there, he witnessed it. I stayed on that phone from the time my dad called me for 17 minutes and 46 seconds.” She adds, “He was loved by his family. You see all his family is here. We are here to support and get justice for our family member. Johnny Hollman belongs to us.”
“APD acted despicably towards Deacon Hollman. He was on the phone with his daughter for 17 minutes before his family had to come and witness Deacon Hollman, whose contributions to the community are unassailable, lying in the street just as if his life didn’t matter,“ said Keyanna Jones, member of Community Movement Builders and Faith Coalition to Stop Cop City.
The crowd, getting larger as the event went on, took the streets and began marching towards city hall. Militarized police helicopters flew over the crowd as dozens of cops on bicycles caught up with the march to get people out of the street and onto the sidewalk. Once at city hall, police formed a barricade around the crowd, pushing in closer to instill fear in the protesters. The crowd was not backing down and continued to chant and give speeches. Soon after, the police left as the crowd cheered over their win against APD trying to repress the protest.
The killing of Johnny Hollman follows a string of police killings in the city of Atlanta including Manny “Tortuguita” Terán Paez in January of this year, who was shot over 50 times while defending the Weelaunee Forest. The autopsy came out and stated that the police lied about Tortuguita shooting at the police, and their killers still have not faced any repercussions.
Kamau Franklin, member of Community Movement Builders, said in his speech, “Imagine the rude awakening of having a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, an uncle, a deacon in your church, a friend of the community killed by the police. Where you have to spend day after day trying to get justice from a system and a society that was never meant to give you justice in the first place.”
Protesters marched back from the city hall to APD headquarters, vowing to continue fighting to get justice for Johnny Hollman. Despite the surveillance and harassment by the police, protesters left without any arrests or attacks by APD.