A Fulton County judge ruled that former Atlanta police officer Raymond Bunn fired in self-defense in 2002 when he shot a teen driving an SUV that struck the officer.

Now the family of the man killed, 18-year-old Corey Ward, is asking the community to help send a message to that judge.

"A lot of faith has been lost in the justice system," Ward's paternal grandmother, Avis Jones, said Wednesday evening outside the Fulton County courthouse. "Where else can we turn?"

Judge Henry Newkirk’s decision was based on a 2006 law that allows a judge to rule on a self-defense claim before the case is taken to trial and a jury.

With the aid of Atlanta activist the Rev. Markel Hutchins, Ward's family is asking people to join them Thursday evening outside the courthouse to protest Newkirk's ruling.

"He has arbitrarily decided to only increase this family's pain and their horror by dismissing the charges against Raymond Bunn," Hutchinson said of Newkirk, as Ward's friends and family huddled outside the courthouse in a show of solidarity. "He has undone the great sacrifice, the time and effort the district attorney’s office has put into this case."

Bunn’s lawyer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday that justice was served, but the grandmother of the shooting victim said a killer was “let off on a technicality.”

There had been a rash of car break-ins in the Buckhead bar district that summer. According to reports of the shooting, Bunn and his partner were patrolling in an unmarked car when they heard glass breaking and a car alarm. They saw a man get out of a Buick SUV with a broken window and jump into the back seat of a Chevy Tahoe driven by Ward.

The officers, both wearing dark shirts with the words “Atlanta police” on the front and back, ordered Ward, the driver, to stop.

The SUV continued forward.

The partner, Terry Mulkey, got out of the way, but the Tahoe bumped Bunn and Bunn shot, hitting Ward in the head.

The Tahoe belonged to Ward’s mother.

More than three years later,  on Dec. 2, 2005,  Bunn was indicted for murder.

The shooting during the early morning hours of July 14, 2002, polarized the community then and is still sprouting claims that decisions were made based on politics.

When she heard Newkirk’s decision, Judy Arnold-Atkins, Ward’s maternal grandmother, said “it was like a bomb went off inside. It’s taken seven years, almost eight.

“I don’t know how he [the judge] came up with the facts to say he [Bunn] was justified in the shooting because he’s [the judge] never heard the case," Arnold-Atkins said. “I just think it’s political to let someone off on a technicality for murder when he had been indicted. I’m asking [District Attorney] Paul Howard and his office to please do an appeal.”

No one from Howard's office was available for comment Wednesday evening.

Manny Arora, Bunn’s lawyer, said the shooting was “unfortunate” and Bunn’s life also was ruined.

“The decision was made by the young men in the car to drive toward officer Bunn and force him to do what he was trained to do,” Arora said “It’s unfortunate that both families had to go through this.”

The case was initially assigned to another judge who rejected defense lawyers' various arguments for dismissing the charge, including that the shooting was justified.

A change in Georgia law in 2006 allowed for a pre-trial on that claim. Initially, Bunn's argument was rejected but  the Georgia Supreme Court in  2008 ordered the trial judge take another look at the self-defense argument using the lower test of a “preponderance” of the evidence as a guide.

By then the case had been assigned to another judge, Newkirk. He based his decision on transcripts from the  hearings before the other judge.

Newkirk wrote that Bunn perceived he was in danger and his only means for protecting himself was to shoot. Bunn “was justified in doing so… and he was immune from prosecution because he acted in self defense,” Newkirk wrote in the order filed Tuesday.

Bunn resigned from Atlanta Police in 2004. He is now in the Army, according to his attorney.

“The right thing happened for an innocent [man].” Arora said.

Hutchinson disagreed, however.

"For Judge Newkirk to step forward, without hearing any testimony, without interviewing any witnesses … to look at paperwork and not give a Fulton County jury an opportunity to deal with this case is a grave injustice," Hutchinson said. "And we’re going to stand up and fight."

-- Staff writer Marcus K. Garner contributed to this report.