Secoriea Turner’s mother testifies there were at least 2 shooters
At least two people opened fire on the SUV in which 8-year-old Secoriea Turner was fatally shot more than five years ago in south Atlanta, the child’s mother testified Thursday.
Charmaine Turner’s voice cracked on the stand as she recalled the panic she felt the night of July 4, 2020, as she and her boyfriend rushed the little girl to the hospital in a desperate attempt to save her life.
Secoriea, a rising third grader, was shot while riding in a Jeep as it passed through an “autonomous zone” manned by armed protesters near a burned-down Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks had been shot and killed by police weeks earlier, authorities said.
Charmaine Turner’s testimony came on the second day of trial for Julian Conley, a 25-year-old facing murder and more than a dozen other charges in the child’s high-profile killing.
Conley is the only person charged with murder, but Turner said she remembered seeing multiple shooters that night.
“I seen two guns going off,” the child’s mother said. “I was seeing gunfire coming from two different places.”
Asked by Fulton County prosecutors if she knew who shot her daughter, Turner said she did not.
Jurors also heard a harrowing 911 call in which Charmaine Turner could be heard screaming for help as she tried to revive her daughter, who she said wasn’t moving or responding in the back seat.
“I’m trying to press on her and blow in her mouth,” Charmaine Turner said in court. “I just started panicking and I just started screaming.”
The SUV, which belonged to the woman, was being driven by her then-boyfriend, Omar Ivery. He also took the stand Thursday morning, telling jurors he called 911 at least five times before getting through to a dispatcher.
Charmaine Turner could be heard screaming in the back seat as the SUV rushed toward Atlanta Medical Center on tires she said had been shot out.
By the time they got to the hospital, several police cars were behind them with their sirens blaring and four or five medical workers were waiting outside, Ivery said.
Secoriea, who had been shot in the back, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
“I’m traumatized,” Ivery told the jury, saying the events of that evening aren’t something he likes to talk about.
Jurors were also shown a photo of a lively Secoriea giving a peace sign in her green Kipp Ways Primary School uniform. Her mother said the little girl loved dancing and recording TikTok videos of herself.
She dreamed of one day attending Spelman College, her mother said.
“Secoriea was very outspoken,” she said. “She was a little sassy cause she was gonna say whatever came to mind. Very silly.”
In the weeks leading up to the shooting, armed groups had taken over the area at night, several witnesses testified. Jurors were shown surveillance footage of the makeshift roadblock set up during the summer of 2020 as civil unrest swept the city and the nation — especially after Brooks’ killing weeks earlier.
One Atlanta detective testified Wednesday that officers were told to avoid the intersection of Pryor Road and University Avenue, especially at night, in the hope of “lessening the potential of an armed confrontation.”
Another investigator said two different calibers of shell casings were recovered from the scene.
Conley faces more than a dozen charges, including murder, aggravated assault, gang and gun-related counts. His defense team acknowledged he was at the scene that night but contends he is not the one who killed Turner.
Jerrion McKinney, the only other person charged in the case, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault, gang and weapons charges and avoided trial. He was given a 40-year sentence with 20 to serve, including credit for time he’s already spent in jail.
Secoriea 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.
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