Deaundre Philips

Deaundre Philips, a 24-year-old Black man and a father, was known to friends and family by the nickname “Drebo.” His life was cut short on the evening of January 26, 2017, in a fatal encounter with Atlanta police that would leave his loved ones searching for answers and justice for years. The incident unfolded in the parking lot of the Atlanta Public Safety Annex on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, a place his family said he had gone with friends to retrieve some documents.

According to the Atlanta Police Department, two plainclothes detectives, including 11-year veteran Yasim Abdulahad, approached the parked car where Philips was sitting after allegedly smelling marijuana. The official police narrative stated that after a brief conversation, Philips, who had an outstanding warrant, "lunged" back into the car and attempted to flee. Investigators initially claimed Officer Abdulahad was partially inside the passenger side of the car and being dragged as it started to move, prompting him to fire his weapon, striking and killing Philips. Police also reported finding a firearm on the floorboard of the vehicle.

However, the family and their attorneys vehemently disputed this account from the beginning. They maintained that Philips was a passenger, not the driver, and had not been aggressive toward the officers. Their position was bolstered by the release of surveillance video in February 2017. Although grainy, the footage appeared to contradict key aspects of the police story. Attorneys for the family pointed out that the video seemed to show Officer Abdulahad fully inside the car before it moved, not hanging out of the door as he had claimed. The family's lawyer also contested the assertion that there was a lit marijuana cigarette in the vehicle.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) took over the case and turned its findings over to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office in May 2017. Despite the completion of the GBI's probe, the case languished for years without a decision on whether to file charges against the officer. Philips's mother, Tyvonna Phillips, expressed her frustration and pain as time passed, feeling that her son had been forgotten. "It's just stuck. It's not solved and it's not closed, it's just there and it's been like that for three years," she said in June 2020. That same month, then-District Attorney Paul Howard stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had delayed his plans to present the case to a grand jury.

In May 2021, new Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pledged to resolve a backlog of officer-involved shooting cases, including Philips's, by the end of the year. However, in August 2021, Willis's office announced it would not prosecute Officer Abdulahad. Tyvonna Phillips said she was told the decision was made on the grounds that her son was "reaching for his gun," a claim that cannot be verified from the publicly available video.

The decision not to press charges sparked protests from Philips's family and community advocates, who gathered outside the district attorney's office to demand the case be reopened. His mother felt "hurt" and "confused" by the outcome, especially given the contradictions between the officer's initial story and the video evidence. "We just want peace, and we want justice," she said. "That's the only way I'm going to be able to rest, is if I get justice." An attorney representing the family vowed to continue fighting, including by applying pressure on the DA's office and seeking other avenues for review. As of August 2021, the case was officially closed without any charges filed against the officer involved in the shooting death of Deaundre Philips.