Family of brothers shot by police want Perdue's intervention

<p>The family of two unarmed brothers shot by Fulton County police after a bar fight called on Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday to declare a state of emergency for the numerous police-involved shootings that have happened recently in metro Atlanta.</p><p>"It is your responsibility...as governor of this state, to intervene," read the letter signed by the Rev. Markel Hutchins, spokesman for the Pettaway family.</p><p>"We call on you to form a blue-ribbon panel to proffer substantive changes in public policy relative to how we train and regulate Georgia peace officers," Hutchins said.</p><p>Hutchins said issues needed to be examined within Georgia's police community include lack of training, the availability of non-lethal weaponry, and character assessments and background checks for prospective officers.</p><p>Fulton County police responded to a bar fight involving Ron and Roy Pettaway III at a club in College Park on Saturday night. Both brothers were shot, and Ron Pettaway died at the club. He was shot in the back of the head, according to family members and the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office.</p><p>Roy Pettaway III, 27, was shot in the back. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and was released on Tuesday.</p><p>Several members of the Pettaway family went to the Capitol on Wednesday to deliver a letter to Perdue, who was not there to meet with them.</p><p>"It is the responsibility of elected officials to respond to the crises of people they are elected to serve," Hutchins said outside the Capitol.</p><p>Hutchins has represented the families of several people killed in police-involved shootings in metro Atlanta.</p><p>He cited as evidence of excessive police force the July 2003 shooting death of 18-year-old Corey Ward _ who was shot in the Buckhead neighborhood by an Atlanta police officer who thought Ward was driving a stolen SUV _ as well as the November shooting death of Kathryn Johnston, killed by Atlanta police officers who were serving a no-knock drug warrant on the elderly woman's northwest Atlanta home.</p><p>The Pettaway family will bury Ron Pettaway on Saturday, what would have been his 27th birthday. The family will also lead a march from the Frozen Palace nightclub, the scene of the shooting, to Live Oak Baptist Church, where Ron Pettaway will be funeralized.</p><p>Their father, Roy Pettaway Jr., said outside the Capitol that he wanted justice not just for his family, but for all families who have been through a similar experience.</p><p>"This is the time for us to stand up as a family," he said. "I almost lost two sons in one night. They're good young men."</p><p>Fulton County police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating the Pettaway shootings. Fulton County Police Chief George Coleman said the two officers who shot the Pettaway brothers have less than two years on the force.</p><p>Both men are on administrative leave pending the outcome of the probe. Their names have not been released.</p>