Yesterday (Thursday, January 7), Dekalb County District Attorney Robert D. James Jr. announced that he would be seeking to indict the white police officer who fatally shot Anthony Hill, an unarmed Air Force Veteran.
Officer Robert Olsen was responding to a call on March 9 about a man “acting deranged” outside of an Atlanta apartment building the day he killed Hill, who was naked at the time. Dekalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander claims Hill charged at the officer despite being told to stand down, lending Officer Olsen to shoot him twice.
According to his family, Anthony, who was only 27 at the time, struggled with mental health issues.
“Our position is that the facts and the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Anthony Hill warrant a charge for felony murder,” James said at a news conference.
Bridget Anderson, Hill’s girlfriend, and his family have long campaigned for criminal charges against Olsen, and though Anderson says that this news is “surreal,” she fears that the indictment may not happen because of numerous grand juries across the country that have failed to indict officers that have shot and killed unarmed civilians.
James plans to present the case to a grand jury on January 21, at which time he will ask jurors to indict Robert Olsen on two counts each of felony murder and violating oath of office, and one count each of aggravated assault and making a false statement.
