Rayshard Brooks' funeral to be held at Atlanta church where Martin Luther King preached

The family and friends of Rayshard Brooks will honor his life in a private funeral service on Tuesday, a day after hundreds of people lined up to pay their respects at a public viewing.

A four-hour public viewing concluded Monday evening at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. served as a co-pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968.

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Mourners are expected to fill the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church on Tuesday afternoon for the funeral of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was shot and killed by police outside an Atlanta fast-food restaurant almost two weeks ago.

While Brooks will be remembered at an invitation-only service, the funeral will be broadcast on the church's internet site, starting about 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).

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Hundreds of mourners filed past his gold-colored casket on Monday at a public viewing at the church steeped in the Black struggle for civil rights. Ebenezer Baptist was where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached until his assassination in 1968.

Brooks' death after being shot twice in the back, with one round piercing his heart, heightened tensions over police brutality and racism in US policing that have raged since the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in late May.

A prosecutor said Brooks appeared to be running away and was not a threat after running off with a Taser stun gun he had taken from one of the officers during an arrest at Wendy's restaurant in south Atlanta on June 12. Video shows Brooks appeared to fire the Taser in the direction of the officers.

The 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.