I recently covered the funeral of Americus police officer Nicholas Ryan Smarr, who was shot and killed while responding to a domestic dispute. His lifelong friend Georgia Southwestern University police officer Jody Smith was also killed while responding to the same dispute.
It was very painful to watch a small town mourn the loss of one of their own. Here are images from that day.
As tensions rose again following recent police shootings of unarmed black men, I covered Atlanta's reaction for The Associated Press. Demonstrators gathered at the Center for Civil and Human Rights and then marched in the streets of Atlanta following the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Georgia NAACP president Francys Johnson speaks to a reporter at the Center for Civil and Human Rights before marching with demonstrators through downtown Atlanta, Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
Demonstrators march in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
An Atlanta police officer watches demonstrators march during a protest in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
Black Lives Matter protesters march in downtown Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
A young boy holds his fist up while wearing tape over his mouth during a Black Lives Matter protest at an entrance to Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. The Black Lives Matter chapter of Atlanta is boycotting major retailers following the recent police shooting deaths involving black men. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
A demonstrator sits at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Site during a protest in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
A demonstrator burns sage at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Site during a protest in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
Black Lives Matter protesters argue with a man outside a restaurant during a protest in downtown Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
Demonstrators block an entrance to Lenox Square Mall during a Black Lives Matter protest in Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. The Black Lives Matter chapter of Atlanta is boycotting major retailers following the recent police shooting deaths involving black men. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
An Atlanta police officer tells Black Lives Matter protesters to move out of the street during a protest in downtown Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016. The protesters gathered in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Branden Camp)
