Armed Georgia Tech Student Shot, Killed by Campus Police
A cell phone video recording from a dorm room shows the student advancing towards officers who repeatedly ask to drop the weapon.
The officer has not been named and it is unclear if any disciplinary action will be taken.
A student at Georgia Tech was shot and killed by campus police after refusing to put down a knife.
A 911 call reported a “person with a knife and a gun” in a parking lot outside of student dorms. When campus police arrived, Scout Schultz, who was the president of the school’s Pride Alliance student group, did not have a gun but was armed with a knife, reports The Washington Post. Pictures from the scene indicate the knife’s blade was not extended.
The 21-year-old engineering student can be seen in a video recording from a dorm room above the parking lot, advancing towards several officers who repeatedly ask Schultz to drop the weapon.
“Come on man, let’s drop the knife,” says one officer. Schultz continues to walk towards the officer, yelling, “Shoot me!”
The officer is seen continuing to back up, eventually moving behind a parking barricade, stating, “Nobody wants to hurt you, man.”
Officers are also heard repeatedly asking, “What’s your name?” Another officer called out to Schultz, asking, “What are we doing here?”
Schultz was subsequently shot in the chest, according to the Journal-Constitution, after a final plea to drop the weapon. Schultz died early Sunday at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
Schultz’s mother, Lynne Schultz, says she assumed her child had been killed at a campus protest. She says Scout did not identify as a male or a female and preferred the pronoun “they” or “them”.
She described Schultz as a “scary smart” perfectionist with depression, indicating Schultz had tried to commit suicide two years ago.
“Why didn’t they use some non-lethal force, like pepper spray or Tasers?” Schultz asked in an interview with the Journal-Constitution. A spokesman for Georgia Tech says campus police do not carry stun guns or Tasers but are equipped with pepper spray.
The Schultz’s attorney, Chris Stewart, says the officer who shot Scout overreacted.
“I think (Scout) was having a mental breakdown and didn’t know what to do,” says Stewart. “The area was secured. There was no one around at risk.”
Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles says she did not know if the officer who shot Schultz had been trained in handling suspects who have mental disorders, reports ABC News.
The officer has not been named and it is unknown if any disciplinary action will be taken.
Scout’s father, Bill Schultz, says the family is still gathering facts but plans to hold a news conference Monday.
In a Facebook post from the Pride Alliance student-run group, Schultz is described as the “driving force” behind the group who pushed for more events.
“Scout always reminded us to think critically about the intersection of identities and how a multitude of factors play into one’s experience on Tech’s campus and beyond.”
A vigil will be held by the group on Monday night.
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About the Author
Amy Rock, Executive Editor
Amy is Campus Safety’s Executive Editor. Prior to joining the editorial team in 2017, she worked in both events and digital marketing.
Amy has many close relatives and friends who are teachers, motivating her to learn and share as much as she can about campus security. She has a minor in education and has worked with children in several capacities, further deepening her passion for keeping students safe.
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Interesting comment by the attorney:
” no one else was around”
I guess the Officers are “no-bodys”, and can’t be injured or killed by an armed individual.
Has this lawyer, ( or anybody else negatively commenting) EVER faced someone with a knife , closed or not?
This was a plain and simple ” suicide by cop” incident .
How about feeling for the cop who was forced to defend him/herself with deadly force.
It is a known fact that pepper spray does NOT work all the time, especially on someone who is mentally un-balanced or drugged out.
Scout was carrying a “leatherman” tool, yes there is a 3-4″ blade, but get real, there were dozens of alternatives to a kill shot. A badge seems a license to kill lately. You aren’t doing anyone any favors by saying the person was armed with a gun and a knife, because many other sources are running the story with a picture of the folded up leatherman tool.
Also, for a publication that is supposed to be about “Campus” your writing about a gender queer person is really ignorant. Perhaps you need to either find a queer person to write for you or go to a few conferences about difference. Unfortunately, your militaristic focus makes your information worthless to me.
While tragic, the lack of accountability from the parents of this poor, confused young man is a testament to his poor decision making. Looks like he learned his way if thinking from them, but I digress, as he was old enough to make his own decisions & now has been left to suffer the consequences. There was no way to know he had a history of mental illness. There was no way to know how contained the area was or whether someone could stumble I’m to this scene. When police officers give you a command, you comply, it’s that simple. If you pick up a deadly weapon & walk in an aggressive manor toward a police officer, what should anyone expect to happen? Exactly what happened here is the answer. While I feel for this confused & hurting young man, his choices brought about the result that was received. If you haven’t been a police officer, you just simply will not “get it”. No one else works in a career field where some people advocate for your death simply because if your profession. It’s not the Officer’s job to decipher whether you’re walking at them to provoke suicide by cop or if you’re a credible threat to their lives. When they take off that uniform they are Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters, neighbors, human beings just like the rest of us. The ones that see them as anything else are those who have a problem with authority, criminals & deviants who prefer anarchy. If this world went just one generation without our peacekeepers we would all be doomed to tear each other apart. They are the only thing standing the gap for the wolves who would tear the sheep to pieces without mercy. And guess what? They are just human beings like me & you doing a job few dare to to do.