‘The city abandoned them’: Child’s murder trial sharpens focus on Bottoms’ tenure
The killing of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in the summer of 2020 was one of the darkest moments of Keisha Lance Bottoms’ tenure as Atlanta’s mayor.
A south Atlanta street corner spiraled into lawlessness in the wake of Rayshard Brooks’ shooting, and the vacuum was filled by activists and armed vigilantes who set up barricades around a burned-out Wendy’s, turning it into what some officers described as an “autonomous zone.”
On July 4, that standoff turned deadly. Turner was shot and killed while riding in the back seat of an SUV that went around a makeshift blockade. Last week, a Fulton County jury convicted Julian Conley of firing an AR-15 into the vehicle, fatally striking the rising third grader in the back.
Bottoms’ name never came up in court, and she wasn’t called to testify about her approach. But the trial reopened raw wounds from a tragedy many Atlantans believe could have been avoided. And as she campaigns for Georgia governor, her critics point to Turner’s killing as the clearest example of her failure to keep the city safe.
“Atlanta families deserved leadership that would keep our streets safe,” said Attorney General Chris Carr, a GOP candidate for governor. “But Keisha Lance Bottoms failed them by letting the city spiral into chaos.”
Bottoms, who opted against seeking another mayoral term in 2021, has cast her record as one of steady leadership during unprecedented turmoil: a pandemic, protests for social justice and rising violent crime.
Her campaign spokesperson, Cynthia Davis, said the mayor worked with law enforcement and political leaders to safeguard communities while respecting protests for social justice that erupted across the city and the nation that summer.
“It is Keisha’s sincerest prayer that this verdict brings some sense of comfort to Secoriea’s family and that the beautiful memory of her will be a blessing always to her family and all those who knew and loved her,” Davis said.
Conley’s murder trial nevertheless put Bottoms’ mayoral record back in the spotlight, reviving scrutiny of one of the most tumultuous decisions of her tenure.
“The city abandoned them,” defense attorney Arnold Ragas told jurors in his closing argument. “It’s a failure on so many levels.”
Former interim police Chief Rodney Bryant disputed claims that officers were told to abandon the area to demonstrators.
In his most extensive remarks since the killing, Bryant said in an interview that police maintained a strong presence around the Wendy’s and moved aggressively to clear barricades on public streets, all while coordinating with Bottoms and her aides.
“Emotions were hot. People were upset with the government and a lot of rumors may have gotten out there. But in reality, there was never an order to stand down.”
He added: “No one in the command is familiar with why anyone would put that information out there.”
‘Highly volatile’
The fatal shooting happened during the deadliest year the city of Atlanta had seen in two decades, with frustration over coronavirus restrictions, economic upheaval and anger at police-involved killings colliding into mass protests on the city’s streets that sometimes turned violent.
The Wendy’s near University Avenue and Pryor Road became a flashpoint after Brooks was shot and killed by police in its parking lot. Protesters occupied the charred remains of the restaurant for weeks. Police testified they were ordered to stay away at night as armed groups converged on the site.
“Generally, at night, people started showing up carrying long guns, walking in the area, blocking the street and confronting vehicles as they passed,” Atlanta detective Jason Teague said. “We were told to go ahead and leave the area.”
Prosecutors, too, acknowledged the loss of control in the area. Assistant District Attorney Daysha Young said armed groups factored into the decision by police to “back off.”
“They were supposed to be out there protecting the community, loving the community,” she said of some of the demonstrators. “But in all actuality, they were terrorizing the community. The police were their target.”
Some days, the site drew peaceful protest. Other days, tensions boiled over. Bryant said activity had quieted in the lead-up to July 4. But that evening, authorities say members of a subset of the Bloods gang seized control and erected barricades before officers could intervene.
That night, Turner was headed home with her mother when their SUV went around one of the barriers. Conley opened fire. Eight bullets ripped through the vehicle, killing the child.
Just minutes before the shooting, another couple had called 911 to report trouble at the site, according to testimony at trial. Family attorney Mawuli Davis argued that if police had responded immediately, Secoriea might still be alive.
“That block, that area was turned over. It was not being controlled,” Davis said. “The evidence came out that there was no police presence, and that was a decision that was made.”
Thaddeus Johnson, a Georgia State University criminologist and former police captain in Memphis, Tennessee, said the summer’s unrest showed the constant tensions between maintaining order and allowing protest after “years of acrimony and distrust.”
Bottoms’ administration, Johnson said, was forced to walk a fine line as demonstrations swept the city. Police cars were torched, windows smashed and the Wendy’s burned to the ground. Still, he said, Atlanta fared better than many large cities.
“It just shows the tumultuous times we were in,” Johnson said. “It was highly volatile. I would not have wanted to be her.”
‘Shot and killed a baby’
In the days that followed, city officials demolished the Wendy’s site and cleared protesters. Bottoms delivered an emotional plea decrying the violence, which she said undercut legitimate protests for racial equity.
“You shot and killed a baby,” Bottoms said at an emotional press conference hours after Turner’s death, adding: “This random, Wild, Wild West shoot-’em-up-because-you-can has gotta stop. It has to stop.”
It was a somber bookend to another emotional plea weeks earlier that drew national praise, when Bottoms urged demonstrators to “go home” after a night of unrest as she stood alongside hip-hop stars and civil rights leaders.
Bottoms later told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editorial board that she planned to shut down the Wendy’s site weeks before the shooting but wanted to give then-City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd more time to negotiate with demonstrators to create a community gathering spot in Brooks’ honor.
Sheperd, who has declined to comment, told the AJC at the time that she worried the situation could have spiraled further out of control if law enforcement intervened.
Bryant said officers saw armed men at the site but couldn’t move in because Georgia’s permissive gun laws allow them to openly carry firearms. Police investigations later revealed some were gang members, but Bryant said that wasn’t immediately clear at the time.
“If we could have gone in and torn down the Wendy’s that night or right after the fire, we don’t know how that would have played out,” he said. “But we know the community challenged us not to do it. They felt we shouldn’t demolish what at the time was a memorial.”
Carr, the attorney general, said Republicans intend to remind voters of Turner’s death through the 2026 campaign.
“At the end of the day, public safety was not a priority in the Bottoms administration,” Carr said. “And at the end of the day, she quit on the city of Atlanta.”
For Turner’s family, the politics matter less than the loss. They’ve continue to call for accountability and filed a lawsuit against Bottoms, Bryant and Sheperd, accusing them of failure and neglect.
Davis, the family’s attorney, put it starkly: If police were told to stand down and trained authorities felt unsafe, “what hope was there for a family just driving through?”
— Staff writer Adam Van Brimmer contributed to this article.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
