Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is calling for change to fight “the enemy within” saying that enough is enough after an 8-year-old girl was fatally shot Saturday near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed.
Later Sunday night the Atlanta Police Department said another man was killed and two other victims were injured during an exchange of gunfire just two doors down from the scene of Brooks’ death.
Secoriea Turner, 8, was shot in the area of University Ave and I-75/85 Saturday night while riding in a vehicle with her mother and an adult friend, according to police. The driver was attempting to enter a parking lot at 1238 Pryor Road where a group of individuals illegally placed barricades. Someone in the group opened fire on the vehicle, according to police, striking Turner.
“I am asking you to please honor this baby’s life. Please, if you know who did this, please turn them in,” Bottoms said at a press conference Sunday.
“Enough is enough. We have talked about this movement that is happening across America at this moment in time when we have the ears and the interest of people across this country and across this globe who are saying they want to see change.”
But Bottoms said while the civil rights movement had a “defined common enemy” the current situation was different.
“We’re fighting the enemy within when we are shooting each other up in our streets,” the mayor said. “You shot and killed a baby. And it wasn’t one shooter, there was at least two shooters,” she said.
Bottoms said she wants people to have the same passion towards ending community violence that they have for police reform.
“We’ve had over 75 shootings in the city over the past several weeks,” Bottoms said. “You can’t blame that on APD [Atlanta Police Department].”
Bottoms said during the press conference that there had been a number of protests in the area where Brooks was killed and challenges with demonstrators closing roads. Saturday night she said she was told that barriers had been put back up.
“An 8-year-old girl was killed last night because her mother was riding down the street,” Bottoms said. “You don’t want someone on the street who would shoot into a car randomly. If you know them, you should turn them in.”
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. Marty, the girls, and I are praying for the Lord’s comfort over Secoriea’s family and loved ones in the face of this tragedy.”
Police describe one of the shooters as a man dressed like a bounty hunter, wearing all black, and the other shooter as a man wearing a white T-shirt. Police are offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Secoriea’s killers.
Around 7 p.m. Sunday, the holiday weekend’s second fatal shooting near the Wendy’s where Brooks was killed took place, the Atlanta Police Department said.
Officers located a 53-year-old male shot and deceased on scene. They also located a second victim who appeared to be grazed by a bullet and a third victim who was transported by private vehicle to Grady Hospital, Atlanta Police Public Information Officer John Chafee told CNN.
APD homicide investigators are actively investigating the incident, he said.