3 People Charged With Inciting Riot After Georgia Tech Vigil

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Three people face charges of inciting a riot and battery of an officer after violent clashes with campus police at Georgia Tech following a vigil for a student fatally shot by officers. / GPB News

Three people face charges of inciting a riot and battery of an officer after violent clashes with campus police at Georgia Tech following a vigil for a student fatally shot by officers, a university spokesman said Tuesday.

Police shot and killed Scout Schultz, 21, Saturday night after the student himself called 911 to report an armed and possibly intoxicated suspicious person, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Georgia Tech hasn't identified the officer who fired the fatal shot and has refused to release any information about the officers who confronted Schultz.

On Monday night, Georgia Tech issued alerts urging students to shelter indoors because of violent protests. Video posted on social media showed a campus police vehicle burning in the street and officers pinning people to the ground as onlookers shouted at them.

After Monday's peaceful vigil, about 50 protesters marched to the campus police department, university spokesman Lance Wallace said. A police vehicle was burned and two officers suffered minor injuries, with one taken to a hospital for treatment and later released.

Three people — Vincent Castillenti, Jacob Wilson, and Cassandra Monden — were arrested and charged with inciting a riot and battery of an officer, Wallace said. The university hasn't said whether they are students, and didn't provide their ages or hometowns.

In a statement released through attorney Chris Stewart, Schultz's family had urged protesters to remain peaceful.

The GBI has said an officer responding to a 911 call about 11:17 p.m. Saturday shot Schultz as the student advanced on officers with a knife and refused commands to put down the knife. Stewart said Monday that the GBI confirmed to him that Schultz was holding a multipurpose tool and that the knife blade was not out.

Stewart says he plans to sue over the shooting.

Schultz was the one who called 911, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in an emailed statement Monday.

"In the call, Shultz describes the person as a white male, with long blonde hair, white T-shirt and blue jeans who is possibly intoxicated, holding a knife and possibly armed with a gun on his hip," Miles said, adding that three suicide notes were found in Schultz's dorm room.

Investigators recovered a multi-purpose tool at the scene but didn't find any guns, Miles said.

Georgia Tech has refused to release the 911 audio.

Schultz was president of Pride Alliance at Georgia Tech. The fourth-year computer engineering student used the name Scout, rather than the given name Scott, and preferred the pronouns "they" and "them" rather than "he" or "him."

"I'm bisexual, nonbinary and intersex," Schultz wrote in a Pride Alliance profile.

William Schultz told reporters Monday that his child had a 3.9 GPA and was on track to graduate early in December.

Lynne Schultz told the Journal-Constitution over the weekend that her oldest child had struggled with depression and attempted suicide two years ago.

After that, Scout Schultz went through counseling, William Schultz said. Scout Schultz spent this past summer at home and there were no obvious problems when school resumed last month, the elder Schultz said.

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Associated Press writer Jeff Martin contributed to this report.