A $10,000 reward is being offered for information on two shooters responsible for the death of Secoriea Turner, the 8-year-old girl shot and killed inside her family’s car near the Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks was killed by police.
Police are looking for two suspects who fired shots into the car just before 10 p.m. on July 4 after the family was trying to drive around illegally placed barricades set up by protesters at the intersection of University Avenue and Pryor Road. They were confronted by a group of males with guns, who shot into the car.
Secoriea’s parents drove her to Atlanta Medical Center, where she later died.
Descriptions of the two shooters are vague, but both were black males. One was dressed all in black in the style of a “bounty hunter,” while the other was wearing a white t-shirt.
Anyone with information should call (404) 577-8477.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms urged anyone with information to contact the police department. She also said the Wendy’s would be cleared of protesters occupying the site, barricades, and debris. Bottoms said the city had been negotiating with protesters about use of the Wendy’s site.
“An 8-year-old baby has been killed, so the discussions have ended,” she said.
The parents of Secoriea – Charmaine Turner and Secoriya Williamson – also spoke during the news conference.
“We understand the frustration of Rayshard Brooks,” Charmaine Turner said. “We didn’t have anything to do with that. We’re innocent. My baby didn’t mean any harm.”
“They say Black Lives Matter,” Williamson said. “You killed one of your own this time. You killed a child.”
Bottoms said peaceful protests due to racial injustice were an important movement, but was blunt in her criticism of demonstrators who were bringing guns and causing violence across the city.
She said the violence taking place had nothing to do with the embattled Atlanta Police Department and its officers. “These are members of the community shooting each other,” Bottoms said. “Enough is enough.”
“This random wild, wild west shoot ’em just because you can has got to stop,” the mayor said. “You can’t blame this on a police officer, or the criminal justice system. This is about some people carrying some weapons who shot up a car with a baby in the car.”
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