A 23-year-old Atlanta man received five years probation Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to the arson fire that destroyed the Wendy’s restaurant that was the site of the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in 2020.
Chisom Kingston, who admitted in Fulton County Court to burning down the business, will not serve time in jail after the judge sentenced him to the probation term and ordered the defendant to pay a $150 fine and serve 150 hours of community service.
The blaze engulfed the Wendy’s on June 12, 2020, after a riot erupted along Atlanta’s bustling University Avenue, where Brooks was shot to death the night before.
The shooting that triggered the unrest happened at the restaurant a day earlier when Brooks took a bullet to the back following a brief encounter with Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe, who was subsequently charged with murder and other related crimes, and Officer Devin Brosnan, who was also charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.
On the night of the shooting, the officers awoke Brooks while he was asleep behind the wheel of his car in the drive-thru of the restaurant.
After emerging from the car, Brooks was calm.
But moments later, after he failed a field sobriety test and as officers attempted to cuff him, Brooks resisted.
During the scuffle, deputies pulled their Tasers to subdue the suspect, but Brooks managed to wrest the non-lethal device from Rolfe’s hands before he could aim it and bolted across the parking lot with the stun gun.
As he fled, Brooks briefly pointed the Taser toward the officers, prompting return fire that killed Brooks.
Rolfe was the only officer charged with firing the fatal shots.
Meanwhile, Kingston’s defense attorney Khalil Eaddy issued a statement Tuesday saying his client was remorseful for burning down the building and indicated he was eager to put the episode behind him.
In November 2022, the Atlanta City Council awarded $1 million to Brooks’ widow as part of a settlement agreement for his death.
“While some have done their best to portray Chisom Kingston as an unhinged boogeyman to help them advance some their own agendas, that’s disgusting, it’s irresponsible and it’s just not who he is,” said Eaddy. “This is a good young man committed to his family and his community. Since that night three years ago, he’s not only graduated from Georgia State University with plans to begin graduate school, he has kept the faith with our courts and with justice itself.”
“I’m proud to see that faith rewarded and grateful, as he is, for this new start in life,” Eaddy extolled.
