Tyler Perry is paying for Rayshard Brooks’ funeral and for the college tuition of his four young children.
The 50-year-old actor, writer, and director has reportedly offered to cover the costs of Rayshard’s funeral, after he was shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer on Friday (12.06.20) night.
According to People magazine, Tyler will also be putting money into college funds for each of Rayshard’s four children – Mekai, 13, Blessing, eight, Memory, two, and Dream, one.
A source told the publication: "[Tyler] spoke to Rayshard’s family and wanted to do something to help. His heart goes out to the family during this tragic time."
Rayshard, 27, was shot by police at a Wendy’s parking lot, and passed away as a result of his injuries after undergoing surgery.
Police had received a complaint that a man, later identified as Rayshard, was asleep in his car whilst parked in the Wendy’s drive-thru, and after he resisted arrest, the police officer deployed a Taser and a struggle ensued, resulting in Rayshard being shot.
Following Rayshard’s death, the officer who shot him, Garrett Rolfe, was fired, whilst another officer involved in the incident, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative duty, and Atlanta police chief Erika Shields resigned.
The killing comes amid weeks of protests across the US in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which were kickstarted following the death of George Floyd last month, who was killed when a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Speaking about the outrage, L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Rayshard’s family, said: "I thought this was finally going to start ending. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, I don’t know what justice is anymore. Is it getting them arrested? Is it getting somebody fired? Is it a chief stepping down? I know that this isn’t justice, what’s happening in society right now. We’re just tired. And if you don’t understand that because you may be a different colour, you may be a different gender, you may not be from Georgia, then you may be the problem."
A GoFundMe page has also been created by the Stewart Trial Attorneys team to help raise money for his family – which also includes his wife Tomika Miller – and as of the time of writing has almost reached its $125,000 goal in just two days, with donations at just under $124,500.