Mourners line up for hours to pay respects to Rayshard Brooks at public viewing in Atlanta

People stand in line at the public viewing for Rayshard Brooks, who was shot dead by an Atlanta police officer
REUTERS

Mourners lined up for hours to pay their respects at a public viewing for Rayshard Brooks, who was fatally shot by an police officer in the US.

The viewing concluded on Monday evening at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr served as a co-pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968.

Mr Brooks lay in a gold-coloured casket as mourner after mourner walked slowly past to pay their respects. All wore masks as mandated by the church, and some wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts.

A lone violin played as people filed in and out silently, some pausing for a brief prayer.

Tomika Miller, Rayshard Brooks' widow, arrives for his viewing at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on June 22, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia
Getty Images

Mr Brooks' death on June 12 at the hands of officers who were called to the scene because he had fallen asleep in his car further heightened tensions over brutality and racism in American policing.

It followed the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.

People started lining up three hours before the public viewing began on Monday.

The body arrived in a black hearse with a placard bearing Brooks' picture and the words: "KILLED in Atlanta, Georgia 2020".

Mr Brooks' funeral, which the family's lawyer said would be paid for by filmmaker Tyler Perry, is scheduled for Tuesday.

On June 12, police were called to a Wendy's fast food restaurant in Atlanta by an employee that reported that Brooks was asleep in his car in the drive-through lane and appeared intoxicated.

He tussled with officers after failing a sobriety test and apparently ran off with a Taser stun gun from one of the officers.

Video showed that Mr Brooks appeared to fire the Taser in the direction of the officers.

Mr Brooks was shot twice in the back, with one round piercing his heart, officials said.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard asserted that Mr Brooks was running away at the time of the shooting, was more than 18 feet away and posed no threat.

Surveillance and other videos also appeared to show one officer kicking Mr Brooks and another standing on his shoulders as he lay dying.

The former Atlanta police officer who shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, 27, was fired and charged with murder.

A second officer, Devin Brosnan, 26, was placed on administrative duty and charged with aggravated assault. The city's police chief resigned.

The Wendy's restaurant was burned down after the killing.

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