Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told protesters Sunday to “clear” of an area near where police killed Rayshard Brooks last month after an 8-year-old girl was shot dead near the site during weekend.
“You shot and killed a baby,” he said at a press conference. “Enough is enough.”
Bottoms said the girl, Secoriea Turner, was shot Saturday night while riding in a car with her mother and a friend after they tried to park in a parking lot. The site had been fenced off after Brooks was killed June 12 in a Wendy’s parking lot south of downtown Atlanta, sparking weeks of protests against racial injustice and police brutality.
Acting Police Chief Rodney Bryant said the driver confronted a group of gunmen who had blocked the entrance, which was less than a half-mile from the Wendy’s.
“At some point someone in the group opened fire and hit the car multiple times,” he said.
Secoriea was pronounced dead in a hospital.
“We understand Rayshard Brooks’ frustration,” said the girl’s mother at the press conference. “We have nothing to do with it. [We’re] innocent. We did not want to harm. My baby didn’t want to hurt. “
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Authorities did not identify any suspects, and it was unclear whether the shooting was related to protests Bottoms said have become a feature of the neighborhood since Brooks was killed.
Bottoms said the vast majority of the protests in the city have been peaceful, although she said there were occasional outbreaks, including the alleged attempted bombardment of a state Department of Public Safety building on Sunday morning.
“For every 100 meetings, we have one incident,” he said. “It’s frustrating.”
Bottoms said authorities had removed other barriers erected by protesters in the area after Brooks’ funeral on June 23. She said she heard that new barriers had been placed there shortly before learning of the Secoriea murder.
She said local authorities had been trying to speak to protesters before closing the area.
“We are not having any more discussions,” he said. “It’s over.”
The former Atlanta officer who fatally shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, was charged with serious murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and other crimes after he shot Brooks twice in the back. Brooks had taken a police electric pistol and was fleeing when he was shot.
A second officer on the scene, Devin Brosnan, was charged with aggravated assault and violation of the oath.
Later Sunday, a 53-year-old man died in a shooting in the area and two other people were injured, police said.
