Secoriea Turner, one of 6 children killed by “Peaceful Protesters” in just one weekend

Secoriea Turner, one of 6 children killed by “Peaceful Protesters” in just one weekend

 

At least six children were killed in shootings across the country over the holiday weekend, sparking calls from officials to end the gun violence plaguing their communities.

The children, ages 6 to 14, were all shot and killed while doing everyday things — riding in mom’s car, walking in a mall, and playing in a yard with their cousins.

Secoriea Turner, 8, Atlanta

In Atlanta, eight-year-old Secoriea Turner, was sitting in a car with her mother and another adult when gunshots rang out Saturday night on University Ave SW near I-75/85 Saturday night.

As the driver tried to pull into a parking lot on Pryor Road, near where Rayshard Brooks died at the hands of police, someone opened fire on the vehicle, police said.

Secoriea Turner was sitting in the car when she was fatally shot in Atlanta.
Someone had placed illegal barricades in the area, according to police.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms begged anyone with information to come forward, and a $10,000 reward for information in the case has been announced by Crime Stoppers.

“We’re fighting the enemy within when we are shooting each other up in our streets,” the mayor said at a press conference Sunday. “You shot and killed a baby. And it wasn’t one shooter, there was at least two shooters,” she said.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp offered his condolences to Secoriea’s family on Sunday posting on Twitter, “Our hearts absolutely break for this precious life senselessly taken.

Royta De’Marco Giles, 8, Hoover, Alabama

On Friday in Hoover, Alabama, another 8-year-old was shot and killed while in a mall.

Royta De’Marco Giles Jr. was one of four “innocent bystanders caught in the cross fire,” when a gun battle started between a group of men inside the Riverchase Galleria mall, a press release from the Hoover Police Department said.

The young boy had just finished second grade at Jonesboro Elementary School, a statement from Bessemer City Schools said.

Royta De’Marco Giles was shot and killed when he was caught in the
crossfire of a shooting at a mall in Hoover, Alabama.

“Our hearts are simply broken at the tragic loss of Giles. We are here for the family in every way possible, and we ask that everyone lifts the mother, family, and our school community in your prayers. This is tough,” Bessemer City Schools superintendent, Dr. Autumm Jeter said in a statement to CNN.
Giles was described as a “smart child, who was a jewel, with big dreams of someday entering the music industry,” according to the statement.

A suspect has been arrested on charges, and police have released additional surveillance images of several persons of interest they are seeking in connection to the child’s death.

Davon McNeal, 11, Washington DC

Davon McNeal, 11, was visiting family in Southeast Washington when a group of five men began shooting around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.
His grandfather, John Ayala — who founded the DC chapter of the Guardian Angels and has been fighting against gun violence for many years — said his grandson jumped out of the car to run into his aunt’s house to grab a phone charger.

Davon McNeal was visiting family when he was shot in Washington DC.
McNeal’s mother heard the gunshots and saw her son duck to the ground, thinking he was trying to dodge the bullets, Ayala said.

But then she saw her son wasn’t moving and noticed the blood. “She saw he was hit in the head,” said Ayala, who was not there at the time. When he arrived at the hospital, he found out his grandson was dead.

“His mom was just crying, ‘My baby! They took my baby!'” Ayala said.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

“The public’s help is dire in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the horrendous killing of 11-year old Davon McNeal,” the mayor said in a tweet announcing the reward.

Natalia Wallace, 7, Chicago

A group of children were playing in the yard in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood when three suspects exited a light colored vehicle and fired shots at a group gathered outside a home on the 100 block of North Latrobe Ave, police said.

Seven-year-old Natalia Wallace, identified to CNN affiliate WBBM by family members, was shot in the head and transported to Stroger Hospital where she died, Chicago Police told CNN.

Natalia Wallace was shot while playing with cousins in a yard in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.

Natalia was “sweet, shy, loving, and good at math,” and had just finished first grade, her family told WBBM.

“Kids outside playing, they shouldn’t have to worry about guns and people shooting,” Natalia’s father, Nathan Wallace, told the affiliate.

“Chicago. Austin. You got to be tired of this,” Chief Fred Waller said when speaking with reporters. “Chicago’s heart gets broken again. Austin’s heart gets broken again. You got to be tired of this, because d*** it, I’m tired of this,” Waller said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot called on anyone with information to come forward and said the violence has “happened for far too long,”
“Tonight a 7 year old in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun,” Lightfoot said in a tweet.

“As a city we must wrap our arms around our youth so they understand there’s a future for them that isn’t wrapped up in gun violence.”
In another shooting in Chicago, a 14-year-old was among four killed on July 4.

Six-year-old killed in San Francisco

Police in San Francisco announced Sunday night that they were investigating the “senseless homicide” of a 6-year-old boy from Bayview.

The boy was found suffering from a gunshot wound after police received a call for a shooting around 10:44 p.m. Saturday night, according to a news release from the police department.

A second person was taken to the hospital from the scene and treated for non life-threatening injuries.

No arrests have been made and there was no suspect description available, the release said.

“Senseless violence like this that could so tragically claim the life of a small child is unacceptable in our City, and the San Francisco Police Department stands with the Bayview Hunter’s Point community in its determination to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice,” Chief of Police William Scott said in the release.

“They say black lives matter…You killed your own. You killed your own this time.”

 

Following the deadly shooting of an 8-year-old girl over the holiday weekend near where Rayshard Brooks was killed last month in Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) demanded an end to the violence that has beset the city amid protests over racism and police brutality.

“You shot and killed a baby,” Bottoms said Sunday evening at a news conference, speaking to the young girl’s killers, who have yet to be identified or arrested. “If you want people to take us seriously, and you don’t want us to lose this movement, then we can’t lose each other in this.

“There are peaceful demonstrators across this city and across this country, and I applaud them and I thank them for being peaceful and for honoring the lives of so many people who have been killed in America because of injustice,” she continued. “But this random wild, wild West, shoot ’em up because you can, it has got to stop. It has to stop.”

Bottoms’s emotional plea came one day after Secoriea Turner, 8, was fatally injured Saturday night not far from a Wendy’s restaurant that has become the site of protests after an Atlanta police officer shot and killed Brooks, a black man, there on June 12. Garrett Rolfe, the officer who fired the shots, was dismissed from the department and has since been charged with felony murder and other offenses. Devin Brosnan, the second officer involved in the incident, is also facing charges.

But Bottoms stressed Sunday that police officers weren’t at fault for the recent spate of shootings that have left more than 20 people injured and several dead, including Secoriea. Instead, Bottoms denounced armed community members for taking advantage of Georgia’s open-carry law and “wreaking havoc” on the city.

“Enough is enough,” Bottoms said. “You can’t blame this on a police officer. You can’t say this is about criminal justice reform. This is about some people carrying some weapons who shot up a car with an 8-year-old baby in the car. For what?”

Bottoms ordered people, namely those walking around with guns who have been spotted in the vicinity of the Wendy’s, to leave immediately. Shortly after Sunday’s news conference, one person was killed and at least two others were injured in another shooting near the restaurant, WXIA reported.

“We’re not having any more discussions. It’s over,” she said. “If you are looking to be a part of a solution and not a problem, then you’re going to have to clear out of that area.”

 

 

The Wendy’s where Brooks was killed has become a hot spot for protests, with some demonstrators showing up to the site with long guns and setting up barricades in the street, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Police reportedly cleared the area last month, one day after Brooks’s June 23 funeral, but Bottoms said Sunday that she received word the barriers were back up roughly an hour before she was informed of Secoriea’s death.

Police say Secoriea was riding in a car with her mother and another adult on Saturday night when they attempted to turn into a parking lot of a business across the street from the Wendy’s. The car was then “confronted by a group of armed individuals who had blocked the entrance,” interim police chief Rodney Bryant said during Sunday’s news conference.

“At some point someone in the group opened fire on the vehicle, striking it multiple times, striking the child who was inside,” said Bryant, who condemned the shooting as a “senseless act of violence.”

Secoriea was rushed to a nearby hospital where she later died, he said.

“She died in my arms,” Secoriea’s mother, Charmaine Turner, tearfully told reporters Sunday before she broke down crying and was led out of the news conference by family members.

Officials and Secoriea’s relatives have implored the public to help identify the people involved, who have only been described by police as “a group of black males.” One of the shooters was believed to have been wearing “all black, dressed like a bounty hunter,” while the second was seen in a white T-shirt. A reward for information is now up to $10,000, WAGA reported.

 

Bottoms called the suspected shooters “cowards,” and urged people to steer clear of non-peaceful demonstrations.

“There are thousands of people who are gathering peacefully to try and effectuate change in this country, and then are those who are wreaking havoc, and they are doing it to the detriment of us all. In this case, it is to the detriment of the life of an 8-year-old child,” she said. “If you are a part of these gatherings that are becoming disruptive and becoming deadly, then on your hands too is the blood of Secoriea Turner.”

The young girl’s death also drew a response from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who tweeted, “Our hearts absolutely break for this precious life senselessly taken.”

In another tweet, Kemp decried the weekend’s violent acts on social media, highlighting the deadly shootings in Atlanta and the vandalism of the Georgia Department of Public Safety headquarters.

“This recent trend of lawlessness is outrageous & unacceptable,” Kemp tweeted. “Georgians, including those in uniform, need to be protected from crime & violence.”

On Sunday, Secoriea’s father, Secoriya Williamson, joined officials in rebuking people who have turned to violence during the protests.

“They say black lives matter,” Williamson said. “You killed your own. You killed your own this time.”

Update: One of Secoriea’s killer is found; Second one still at large

Julian Conley, 19, is charged with felony murder in connection with Secoriea’s death.

Atlanta police said Conley and another person shot the little girl, who was riding in a car with her mother.

The shooting happened that holiday night near the intersection of University Avenue and Pryor Road, near I-75/85 – in the same area as the deadly shooting death of Rayshard Brooks by a former Atlanta Police officer last month.

Conley made his first court appearance earlier this month, but was denied bond.

His attorney said his client was at the scene, but was not involved in the shooting.

Secoriea was riding in a car with her mother and her mother’s friend, who was driving. Police said the driver was attempting to enter the parking lot on the 1200 block of Pryor Road when they were confronted by a group of armed individuals who were illegally blocking the entrance.

Someone in the group began shooting at the car, hitting it multiple times. Secoriea was taken to Atlanta Medical Center, but later died from her injuries.

Police have not yet identified or named a second suspect in the shooting.