One of two men charged in the 2020 shooting of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner pleaded guilty Wednesday, avoiding a jury trial that was scheduled to begin next week.
Jerrion McKinney, 28, took a loaded rifle to a makeshift blockade set up near the burned-down Atlanta Wendy’s where the little girl was shot five years ago, but prosecutors said he did not kill her.
McKinney entered Alford pleas to aggravated assault, gang and weapons charges and was given a 40-year sentence with 20 to serve. He will get credit for time he’s already spent in jail.
Turner was killed July 4, 2020, when the Jeep she and her mother were riding in drove past the armed group set up near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed by an Atlanta police officer weeks earlier.
The little girl’s death stunned a city still reeling from Brooks’ death amid widespread Black Lives Matter protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Protesters upset by Brooks’ shooting had been camped out at the restaurant for weeks. Authorities said a group manning a barricade opened fire on an SUV driven by the boyfriend of Turner’s mother when he tried to go around the boundary. Turner was struck when at least eight rounds flew into the backseat where she was sitting, investigators said at the time.
The rising Kipp Ways Academy third-grader, was rushed to the hospital but died in her mother’s arms, Turner’s family said.
Charmaine Turner, Secoriea’s mom, choked back tears as she spoke in court about what her daughter meant to her. She described the 8-year-old as “always happy, always smiling” and said it was impossible to feel sad when her daughter was around.
“Secoriea was my heart, one of my reasons for living,” she told Judge Rachelle Carnesale. “My life changed forever when she was killed.”
Credit: ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM
Credit: ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM
McKinney denied harming Secoriea Turner, telling the judge he has children of his own and that he feels sorry for what happened to the 8-year-old and her family.
“I am not a menace to society. I am not in no gang,” he said. “The picture that’s being painted of me, that’s not me.”
In March, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that McKinney could not keep evidence of his previous gun offenses in Missouri from being introduced at trial. The court’s unanimous decision affirmed an earlier ruling of the Georgia Court of Appeals.
His attorney asked for a five-year prison sentence, but Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Carnesale opted to go with the prosecution’s recommendation. She told McKinney she would have tacked on even more time had he been the one who killed Turner.
“I wouldn’t consider what the state is recommending if you were the one who shot this child,” Carnesale said from the bench.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
A second defendant, Julian Conley, is scheduled to go trial next week. Prosecutors believe Conley was the one who fired the fatal shots, though McKinney and others were there.
Fulton County prosecutor Adam Abbate said both McKinney and Conley are Bloods-affiliated gang members who “were acting as a militia” when they armed themselves with assault-style rifles and set up the makeshift encampment near the intersection of Pryor Street and University Avenue.
Abbate said they stopped every vehicle, determining who was allowed to pass through. The blockade was erected one day after Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe fatally shot Brooks in the neighboring Wendy’s parking lot.
The criminal charges filed against Rolfe and another officer over Brooks’ killing were dropped in 2022 after a special prosecutor deemed the 27-year-old’s police shooting was justified.
Turner’s parents have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Atlanta, Wendy’s International and several former city officials, including former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, claiming they all bear responsibility for allowing the barricade to remain. That case is still pending, family attorney Mawuli Davis said Wednesday.
Jury selection in Conley’s murder trial is set to begin Monday morning in the same courtroom.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
