The lawyer representing the parents of the Georgia Tech student who was fatally shot by campus police this weekend contradicted official reports in a news conference on Monday, saying the 21-year-old didn't have a knife in their hand but a small multipurpose tool.
The attorney, L. Chris Stewart, showed an image of the tool Scout Schultz was holding, saying the knife portion was still folded into the closed position during their interaction with officers. "This is what Scout had — the knife wasn't even open," Stewart said.
Schultz's parents directly addressed the officer at the news conference. “Why did you have to shoot?" the student's father, Bill Schultz, asked.
Ga Tech Family attorney says Scout had multipurpose tool not a "knife" as reported by police @FOX5Atlanta #fox5atl
"That’s the question," he continued. "I mean — that’s the only question that matters right now. Why did you kill my son?” the father added.
The attorney said that the family plans to file a civil suit and that there were "two failures" — the officer who decided to open fire, and Georgia Tech's not providing its officers with tasers. He called the latter "insane."
Stewart described the shooting as "senseless."
“What was Scout doing that day?" the attorney said. "Standing there. Disoriented. Having a mental breakdown, and was shot from 20 feet away."
Stewart said that the officers who did not use lethal force during the incident responded properly. "But one officer did not do their job," Stewart said. “One officer, though there were five out there, decided to shoot Scout in the heart."
Stewart said that the student "battled with depression in the past."
Scout was a fourth-year student at the university. Scout's mother, Lynne Schultz, spoke about her child's "great grades," and described them as "caring."
"Scout stood up for what they believed in," she said. (Scout used "they/them" pronouns.) "This is a really big loss for a lot of people."
Scout's father called Scout the "greatest kid."
"I just cried reading all the posts on his Facebook page, of all the people on campus who loved, and respected, and adored Scout," the student's father said.
Two apparent videos emerged of the incident. One shows Schultz slowly walking toward the officers before they were shot. (Warning: The following videos may be disturbing to some people.)
"Come on, man, drop the knife," one officer orders at the beginning of the second video that appears to show the shooting. "Come on, let's drop it," another officer echoes.
"Shoot me!" someone who appears to be Schultz responds. The officers continue to order the student to drop the knife. "Nobody wants to hurt you, man," an officer says.
Near the end of the footage, an officer again demands: "Drop it!" apparently at the same time a shot is fired at Schultz.
The GBI said that the outcome of its independent investigation will be reviewed by the district attorney's office.
CORRECTION
Scout Schultz was president of Georgia Tech's Pride Alliance chapter; a previous version of this story misspelled the organization's name.