GoFundMe Allows Fundraiser For Left-Wing Activist Accused Of Shooting Cop, Has Shut Down Right-Leaning Fundraisers In Past

Ashe SchowJanuary 23, 2023

A GoFundMe campaign started Saturday to raise nearly $50,000 for the left-leaning protester who was accused of shooting an Atlanta State Patrol Officer last Thursday.

The GoFundMe identification of the protester fundraiser as Manuel Páez Terán, was shot and killed by police on Wednesday after he allegedly shot the trooper, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said. The activist’s death sparked unrest Over the weekend, Atlanta. GBI Director Mike Register stated that the police had started removing protestors from a long-running demonstration in a forest area where a proposed training center for law enforcement officers was being built.

While police attempted to remove protesters, Páez Terán allegedly “without warning shot a Georgia State Patrol Trooper,” Register according to CNN.

“The individual who fired upon law enforcement and shot the trooper was killed in an exchange of gunfire,” The director was also quoted.

In a news release The GBI issued additional details on Friday and included a photo of its handgun that it claimed was used to kill the trooper. According to police “the projectile recovered from the trooper’s wound matches Teran’s handgun.”

An earlier press release, dated Wednesday, stated that police officers “located a man inside a tent in the woods” And “gave verbal commands to the man who did not comply and shot a Georgia State Patrol Trooper.”

“Other law enforcement officers returned fire, hitting the man,” The press release stated that the GBI was releasing the statement. “Law enforcement evacuated the Trooper to a safe area. The man died on scene. The injured Georgia State Patrol Trooper was taken to a local hospital where he underwent surgery. A handgun and shell casings were located at the scene. The GBI is working the officer involved shooting and the investigation is still active and ongoing.”

Additionally, police stated that they retrieved the item. “mortar style fireworks, multiple edged weapons, pellet rifles, gas masks, and a blow torch” from the protest area, though police did not say that any of these items belonged to Páez Terán.

Activists involved in the protest have insisted that Páez Terán did not open fire on police, with Defend the Atlanta Forest writing on Twitter It believes “the officer shot today was hit by ‘friendly fire’ and not by the protester who was killed.”

Kamau Franklin from Community Movement Builders was another activist. told Left-leaning outlet Democracy Now! that Páez Terán, whom activists refer to as a “forest defender,” most likely didn’t fire at the police.

“To our knowledge so far, we find it less than likely that the police version of events is what really happened, the idea that he was sitting in a tent and fired out of the tent at basically a SWAT team, DeKalb County police, the Atlanta police and Georgia state troopers, who were there in great numbers to do the raid that they conducted in the park,” Franklin said.

GoFundMe had in the past stopped fundraising for right-leaning causes such as the “Freedom Convoy,” Claim the website “evidence” The protest was not peaceful and did not reveal any of the alleged evidence. GoFundMe also removed a fundraising page for Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defence. Rittenhouse was acquitted on murder charges in Kenosha shooting deaths in Kenosha in 2020. The video evidence clearly showed that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. GoFundMe explained to Medium that it had removed the Rittenhouse fundraising pages. “Terms of Service prohibit raising money for the legal defense of an alleged violent crime.”

GoFundMe didn’t respond to a Daily Wire query prior to press time.