2 arrested in Wendy's fire after Rayshard Brooks' shooting

Associated Press
Thursday, July 2, 2020 7:40 p.m. | Thursday, July 2, 2020 7:40 p.m.

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Joseth Jett spray painted over the top of graffiti from the night before and paints RIP Rayshard Sunday, June 14, 2020, in Atlanta.

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Tayla Myree sets out flowers on a shrine at a burned Wendy’s on Sunday, June 14, 2020, in Atlanta. Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a white Atlanta police officer outside the Wendy’s on Friday night.

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A Wendy’s restaurant, background, burns Saturday, June 13, 2020, in Atlanta after demonstrators set it on fire. Demonstrators were protesting the death of Rayshard Brooks, a black man who was shot and killed by Atlanta police Friday evening following a struggle in the Wendy’s drive-thru line.

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In this June 12, 2020 photo from a screen grab taken from body camera video provided by the Atlanta Police Department, Rayshard Brooks speaks with Officer Garrett Rolfe in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant, in Atlanta.

ATLANTA — Authorities on Thursday arrested two more people on suspicion of arson in the burning of an Atlanta Wendy’s restaurant where a police officer fatally shot Rayshard Brooks.

The arrests of John Wade, 33, and Chisom Kingston, 23, were confirmed by Atlanta fire spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said.

Protesters torched the fast food restaurant June 13, the night after police killed Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man. Video shows that Brooks was shot in the back in the Wendy’s parking lot after he resisted arrest and fired a Taser while he was running away.

According to the newspaper, Wade was one of several people who organized demonstrations in Atlanta following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died under a white Minneapolis officer’s knee.

Fulton County jail records did not list attorneys for Wade or Kingston.

Brooks’ killing in the parking lot of the Wendy’s on June 12 came amid weeks of turbulent and sometimes violent protests across the U.S. over Floyd’s death.

Authorities have previously announced the arrest of another suspect in the fire, 29-year-old Natalie White. White is the same woman Brooks described to police on the night he was shot as his girlfriend.

Her lawyer, Drew Findling, has said White was not responsible for the fire.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot Brooks, was fired and another officer, Devin Brosnan, was placed on desk duty.

Rolfe faces 11 charges, including felony murder. Brosnan is charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.