ATLANTA — On June 3, 2025, U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown dismissed all criminal charges against Atlanta Police Officer Sung H. Kim in connection with the 2019 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Jimmy Atchison. The judge cited the federal Supremacy Clause and Georgia’s self-defense laws as grounds for dismissal, effectively ending a years-long legal case.
Officer Kim, a 26-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department and a deputized member of the FBI’s Atlanta Violent Crime Task Force, shot Atchison during a federal operation to arrest him on an armed robbery warrant. The incident took place on January 22, 2019. Atchison fled from officers and was eventually found hiding in a closet in a northwest Atlanta apartment.
According to court documents, Kim ordered Atchison to show his hands. Kim said Atchison made a sudden movement toward his face and chest, prompting him to fire a single shot. Atchison was later found to be unarmed. 
Judge Brown concluded that Kim’s belief that Atchison posed a threat was reasonable. His decision was supported by testimonies from other officers and a use-of-force expert who confirmed that Atchison’s movement was consistent with a “deadly force stimulus.”
The Fulton County grand jury had indicted Kim in December 2022 on multiple charges, including felony murder and aggravated assault. The case was later moved to federal court, and Kim’s legal team filed for dismissal in March 2025.
Brown criticized the state’s decision to indict, writing, “The evidence for self-defense is so overwhelming it is hard to understand how Georgia could have brought these charges in the first place.”
The case drew national attention and public outcry. Atchison’s family, who maintained that he was attempting to surrender when he was shot, filed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit in 2020. The incident also spurred a 2024 congressional investigation into the oversight of federal task forces involving local law enforcement.
While the dismissal ends the criminal case, it remains unclear whether state prosecutors will appeal the ruling.
