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“Why did you shoot me, bro?”
Those were among the last words 18-year-old Zadarious Dorsey spoke after being shot by a Newnan Police Department officer, according to his aunt, who watched the officer’s body camera footage Friday morning before joining approximately 100 peaceful protesters outside the police department.
The crowd gathered Friday afternoon, October 9, demanding answers about Dorsey’s death six days earlier. Many wore red or black shirts emblazoned with the words “Justice for Zadarious Dorsey,” while family members described what they had seen in a private meeting with Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herb Cranford.
“This is like the most horrific thing I ever witnessed in my life,” Dorsey’s Aunt Christy White told the crowd. “Was seeing my nephew last moments, he used one of his last breaths to ask the officer, ‘Why did you shoot me, bro?’”
She repeated the words several times as she described the shooting and questioned why the officer had fired.
White also told protesters that officers handcuffed Dorsey after he had been shot, something she said she witnessed in the body camera footage.
“Then y’all handcuffed him while he was shot. What threat did he pose to you?” White asked.
Family members said they counted six shots and questioned why the officer continued firing. They also said a diagram presented during the meeting showed the firearm recovered at the scene approximately 42 feet from Dorsey’s body.
“How can you run, fall, and pull a gun out?” Christy White asked. “When y’all showed us the grid, the gun was 42 feet away from the dead body.”
Those descriptions reflect the family’s interpretation of the evidence they reviewed. The body camera footage has not been publicly released, and Cranford’s statement does not independently confirm the number of shots, the reported distance between the gun and Dorsey’s body, the handcuffing, or the words Dorsey reportedly spoke after being shot.
Eleven family members review shooting evidence
In an October 9 statement, Cranford confirmed that 11 members of Dorsey’s family met with prosecutors and investigators Friday morning at the Coweta County Justice Center for more than two hours.
Those attending included Dorsey’s grandmother, brother, sister, uncle, several aunts, and cousins.
The district attorney was joined by prosecutors, investigators, a victim advocate, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jessica Sales, who is leading the investigation.
Family members were shown the shooting officer’s body camera video, frame-by-frame images, surveillance footage from Cliff Circle, Winston Dowdell Academy, and Central Education Center, police radio communications, Taser data, crime scene photographs, and a diagram of the scene.
Cranford also confirmed a new detail: The firearm recovered at the scene had been reported stolen in Albany, Georgia, in 2020.
The GBI previously reported that a Newnan police officer approached a vehicle on Cliff Circle shortly after 1 a.m. October 3. Five occupants exited the vehicle, four of whom ran. The officer pursued Dorsey and deployed a Taser, which investigators said was ineffective.
According to the GBI’s preliminary findings, Dorsey then pulled a gun from his waistband. The officer ordered him to stop and drop the weapon before firing multiple shots.
Dorsey was transported to a hospital, where he died.
His family disputes whether Dorsey posed an immediate threat when the officer fired. Relatives questioned whether he ever pointed a gun at the officer, why police initially approached the vehicle, and whether the officer knew Dorsey from previous encounters.
District attorney plans to release footage
Cranford said his office explained Georgia law regarding an officer’s use of deadly force, self-defense, and the distinctions between different types of police encounters.
He also discussed the potential admissibility of a shooting victim’s previous criminal conduct or firearm possession in a self-defense case.
Dorsey had been awaiting arraignment on felony child molestation and statutory rape charges, along with a misdemeanor battery charge, stemming from a February incident in Carrollton. Those allegations had not been resolved at trial when he died.
According to Cranford, the legal question his office must ultimately evaluate is whether prosecutors can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer was unreasonable in believing deadly force was necessary to protect himself from death or great bodily injury.
The district attorney said he will meet with the family again after the GBI completes its investigation and his office determines whether criminal charges are warranted.
Cranford also discussed publicly releasing the evidence with Dorsey’s relatives. According to his statement, the family reached a consensus supporting release of the body camera video through the shooting, but excluding images of Dorsey’s suffering afterward.
His office intends to release the evidence shown to the family, along with its presentation and timeline, after receiving the completed autopsy report, which prosecutors expect within the month.
No charging decision has been announced.
Aunt describes family’s grief
At the protest, Dorsey’s Aunt Angela Brown spoke at length about the nephew she raised and the loss her family is experiencing.
Brown described receiving phone calls in the early morning hours after the shooting and struggling to learn what had happened to Dorsey, whom the family affectionately called Dae Dae.
She questioned why relatives were not notified directly by police and why they were not given an opportunity to identify him before his body was taken from the hospital.
“Nobody told me nothing,” Brown said.
She also challenged those who pointed to Dorsey’s previous legal troubles as an explanation for his death.
“But his background don’t justify nothing,” she said.
Brown described a young man who regularly waited for her to return home from work in the early morning hours, coming outside to open her car door and make sure she arrived safely.
“Friday, Saturday night, when I get home five a.m. in the morning, my nephew waiting up for me,” Brown said. “He coming to my car to open my door to make sure I’m safe.”
She also described feeding Dorsey and his friends when they gathered at her home, making sure the young men had something to eat.
Another relative, who described Dorsey as more of a brother than a cousin, spoke through tears about their everyday arguments and the conversations they would never have again.
“The last time me and Dae Dae spoke, I literally cussed him out, and all I want to do is to tell him I’m sorry,” she said, using his family nickname.
“I didn’t even get to say sorry.”
Family and friends describe years of police harassment
Beyond the circumstances of the October 3 shooting, several relatives and community members alleged that Dorsey and his friends had been subjected to repeated police encounters over several years.
One cousin said officers regularly followed vehicles when Dorsey was a passenger and sometimes stopped them to see whether he was inside.
“I cannot have Dae Dae or any of his friends in my car because they would stop my car, look in my car, and see if that’s Dae Dae,” the cousin told protesters.
Family members also alleged that officers repeatedly watched Dorsey’s grandmother’s home and entered residences searching for him.
Another speaker said she moved her five Black sons away from Newnan because of what she described as repeated harassment by police. She questioned why young Black men in certain neighborhoods appeared to receive more police attention than children in other areas of the city.
These allegations were made by family members and protesters at the demonstration. The Citizen has not independently verified the accounts or obtained police records documenting the reported encounters.
One young man who identified Dorsey as his brother and said he was with him that night challenged the accounts that had been published about the shooting. He said the officer pursued Dorsey rather than the others who ran from the vehicle.
The GBI investigation remains ongoing, and the publicly available evidence has not established why the officer initially approached the vehicle or chose to pursue Dorsey.
Approximately 100 gather peacefully outside police department
The demonstration began with a prayer led by Pastor Jermaine Elder of Prevailing Grace Ministries in Newnan, followed by 18 seconds of silence in recognition of Dorsey’s age.
Community organizer Stacey Bristow, known locally as Poetry or Miss Poetry, helped coordinate the family-initiated protest through her grassroots organization, Beyond the Streets Social Justice Task Force.
Bristow opened the gathering by asking participants to remain on the sidewalk and grass, avoid obstructing entrances, and keep one another safe.
“We’re here to respect the family of Zadarious Dorsey, we will not tolerate any violence, any negativity,” Bristow said.
The gathering remained peaceful as demonstrators chanted “Say his name: Zadarious Dorsey!” along with “No justice, no peace,” and “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.”
Family members, friends, and other community members took turns speaking, often directly addressing the police department building.
Bristow, who previously organized protests in Newnan following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, urged participants to remain engaged after Friday’s demonstration.
She encouraged residents to attend city council and county commission meetings, question public officials, and participate in efforts to improve police accountability.
Bristow also said she intends to petition the Newnan City Council to establish or reestablish a civilian complaint review board to examine police conduct. She described previous efforts to create such a board following protests in 2020.
“We have to be out here on the front line all the time,” Bristow told the crowd.
She also reminded participants that Dorsey’s past legal troubles should not determine how the circumstances of his death are judged.
“I don’t care what that past looks like. It had nothing to do with October 3,” Bristow said.
Family calls for continued support
As the demonstration continued, Brown thanked those who attended and urged them not to forget her nephew after the protest ended.
She spoke about holidays without Dorsey, the absence of his voice in the house, and the loss experienced by his parents and other relatives.
“Our family is broken,” she said. “Nothing, no words can fix us right now.”
Brown said she intends to continue seeking accountability and urged the community to stand with the family.
“Help us continue to fight. Help us to continue to get justice for Zadarious. Help us to keep his name alive,” Brown told the crowd.
The GBI has not completed its investigation, and Cranford has not determined whether the shooting will result in criminal charges.
For the family, the video they saw Friday has intensified their questions about Dorsey’s death. For investigators, the evidence remains part of an ongoing examination of whether the officer’s use of deadly force was legally justified.
But for those gathered outside the Newnan Police Department, the focus repeatedly returned to a young man they knew as Dae Dae, and to the words his aunt said she heard him ask after he was shot:
“Why did you shoot me, bro?”
The Citizen’s previous coverage of this story:
18-Year-Old Killed in Newnan Police Shooting After GBI Says He Pulled Gun from October 3.
18-Year Old Killed by Newnan Police Faced Felony Charges; Mayor Urges Fairness from October 8.
Family Plans Peaceful Protest Friday After 18-Year-Old Killed by Newnan Police from October 9.
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