The parents of an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot on the Fourth of July near the Atlanta Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed gave an emotional plea Sunday asking the public to help track down their daughter’s killers.
“They say Black lives matter,” Secoriya Williamson, the father of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, said during a press conference. “You killed your own. You killed your own this time. … You killed a child. She didn’t do nothing to nobody.”
Police said Secoriea was shot while riding in a vehicle with her mother and her mother’s friend near the now-burned-out Wendy’s, which had become a flashpoint of recent protests since the police-custody death of Brooks on June 12.
According to police, the driver was attempting to enter a parking lot at 1238 Pryor Road where a group of individuals illegally placed barricades.
“At some point, someone in that group opened fire on the vehicle, striking it multiple times and striking the child who was inside,” police said in a statement.
Secoriea was taken to Atlanta Medical Center where she later died in her mother’s arms, Charmaine Turner told reporters.
“She was only 8 years old,” Ms. Turner, the child’s mother, said. “She would have been on Tik Tok dancing on her phone, just got done eating. We understand the frustration of Rayshard Brooks. We didn’t have anything to do with that. We’re innocent. My baby didn’t mean no harm.”
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blasted Black Lives Matter protesters for the senseless act.
“You can’t blame this on a police officer. You can’t say this about criminal justice reform,” Ms. Bottoms said Sunday. “This is about some people carrying some weapons who shot up a car with an 8-year-old baby in the car, for what?”
“Enough is enough,” she said. “If you want people to take us seriously and you don’t want us to lose this movement, we can’t lose each other.”
The mayor said authorities believe there were “at least two shooters” who opened fire on the vehicle.
Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Secoriea’s killers, which can be submitted anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.StopCrimeATL.com.
“I am asking you to please honor this baby’s life. Please, if you know who did this, please turn them in,” Ms. Bottoms said.
