Wendy’s suspect charged in slaying
8-year-old Secoriea Turner died in Atlanta
ATLANTA – A suspect was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the shooting that killed an 8year-old girl near the site of a police shooting.
Police issued warrants Tuesday for Julian Conley, 19, in the slaying of Secoriea Turner, police spokesman Anthony Grant said.
Conley’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, said Conley was peacefully protesting and witnessed the shooting but did not fire himself, though he was armed.
“It is no doubt this comes as a shock,” he said. “Why would you want to charge a man who saw a crime but did not participate in a criminal act? Police would have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting a conviction on my client.”
Mourners attended Secoriea’s funeral Wednesday at New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. A long line of relatives and friends filed past her body as the gospel song “I’ll Fly Away” filled the church.
“Police would have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting a conviction on my client.” Jackie Patterson, suspect’s attorney
Secoriea was fatally shot on the Fourth of July while riding in an SUV with her mother and another adult near a Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks, 27, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer June 12.
Makeshift barricades were set up in the area after Brooks was killed, and armed men blocked roads, turning some drivers away. The SUV Secoriea was in tried to make a U-turn at one of the barricades when at least one gunman shot into the vehicle, police said.
Conley said the SUV hit a barricade and a man armed with a rifle, according to Patterson. The man got up and fired at the vehicle, Patterson said his client told him. Conley said everyone thought somebody in the SUV was shooting and other people fired at the vehicle, Patterson said. “He was in disbelief that people were shooting at the vehicle,” the attorney said.
Secoriea’s parents pleaded for the public to help find whoever was responsible for the killing. A total of $50,000 in reward money was offered for the apprehension and conviction of those responsible.