'This hurts my heart'

Family and friends gather to say a tearful goodbye to Secoriea Turner, 8, who was shot and killed over the Fourth of July weekend.

Secoriea Turner made everyone around her smile.

On Wednesday, they cried. Dozens of mourners dressed in white and pink said goodbye to the 8-year-old Atlanta girl who loved uni

corns, her family, cheering, making good grades and dancing.

“I love you, Secoriea. We love you,” her mother, Charmaine Turner, said through tears as she stood with Secoriea’s brothers and read a tribute to her daughter.

Secoriea, a student at Kipp Ways Primary School, was among five people shot and killed over the Fourth of July weekend in the city.

Private funeral services for her were held at New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Secoriea lay in a clear coffin with gold trim and features, with her full name printed in gold lettering across the front.

Stuffed animals were arranged near her feet.

The young girl wore a hot pink dress adorned with multicolored pink flowers, white gloves that extended a little past her elbows and a tiara atop her head.

“As I walked in, I said to myself,

‘This hurts,’” said the Rev. Gregory A. Sutton, senior pastor of Jackson Memorial Baptist Church in Atlanta, who later delivered the eulogy. “I said to myself, ‘This hurts my heart. I’m praying for this father and this mother and this mother’s children. This family.’”

Several times during the service, Secoriea’s father, Secoriey Williamson, went up to the casket, leaned in and kissed his daughter. Later in the service, while a selection was being performed, mourners slowly made their way to the front of the church to hug and support the family.

Sutton said he didn’t come to politicize the moment or to give a speech, but to comfort and give the family the strength to face this obstacle. It is devastating to lose a child, he said.

“If there is ever a time we need the Lord, we need him now,” said Sutton.

The church was filled with more than a dozen floral arrangements, including one in the form of an “8,” her age when she was killed. Another, a unicorn floral arrangement from her first grade teacher, Joya Florence, and her classmates, was situated near a bouquet of pink flowers from Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore.

The program was filled with photos of a smiling Secoriea at various stages of her young life. One featured her with a halo.

Florence, her beloved first grade teacher, recalled the first time Secoriea, dressed in a pink tutu and carrying a unicorn backpack, came to her class.

“She was cute and bright with a smile to adore,” she said. Florence recounted how she would began calling the roll in class. Many students said “here” or “present.” Secoriea said “unicorn.”

“Her backpack must have been filled with magic,” she said, saying her student sprinkled laughter and joy among her classmates.

Sutton told those gathered that they were not there for a funeral but rather a commencement, a graduation and a celebration.

Secoriea, he said, had graduated from mortality to immortality. “We know where she is,” he said.

The family would attend Jackson Memorial for church service, and Sutton said his daughter once attended school with Secoriea’s mother.

In a previous interview, Charmaine Turner said she took her children to church there because she wanted them to learn how to “pray to God.”

Secoriea was shot while riding in a SUV her mother had been driving down the road in front of the south Atlanta Wendy’s where a police officer killed Rayshard

Brooks.

Charmaine Turner said a group started shooting at the vehicle as she was trying to go around a makeshift roadblock. She said when her daughter was hit, Secoriea called out to her.

Sutton, in his eulogy, turned to the Bible and spoke of when David lost his son.

He said that today’s trying times, with the coronavirus pandemic and violence, people in the community must care and support one another.

Black lives, Sutton said, do not take Black lives. “Black lives should encourage Black lives.”

Speaking to those gathered, he said they can’t bring Secoriea back, “but if you accept Christ, you can go to where she is.”

“Secoriea’s soul belongs to God,” he said.

PHOTOS BY ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM Shanta Turner (left) comforts daughter Charmaine Turner, Secoriea Turner’s mother, during Secoriea’s service Wednesday at New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta’s Sylvan Hills community. On July Fourth, the 8-year-old was shot dead by civilians who commandeered a street in Atlanta’s Peoplestown community.

Stuffed animals sit near Secoriea Turner’s feet in her coffin during Wednesday’s memorial service.

PHOTOS BY ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM ▲ Secoriea Turner’s cheerleading uniform is presented to her mother by a former coach at Secoriea’s service Wednesday at New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta’s Sylvan Hills community. Secoriea was one of five people killed over July Fourth weekend in Atlanta. ◄ Family and friends comfort Secoriey Williamson as he becomes emotional at Wednesday’s service for his 8-year-old daughter, Secoriea Turner. The program was filled with photos of a smiling Secoriea at various stages of her young life.

Secoriey Williamson, father of Secoriea Turner, is comforted during Wednesday’s service at New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.