A man accused of firing a shot that fatally struck a 6-month-old boy in northwest Atlanta last month was denied bond Tuesday morning.
Dequasie Little, 22, was arrested Jan. 25, less than 24 hours after the drive-by shooting, and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. The following day, he waived his first court appearance, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Grayson Matthew Fleming-Gray was shot while riding in the backseat of his mother’s car near a store on Anderson Avenue.
During Tuesday’s bond hearing, Grayson’s family said Little is a threat to the community, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The baby’s death sparked an outcry as gun violence continued to climb within the city.
“Gun violence is out of control and we’re going to put an end to it here in Atlanta,” Mayor Andre Dickens said a few days after the shooting.
Dickens praised the quick work of Atlanta officers in identifying Little as a suspect in the case. Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it was a team effort between his officers, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Georgia State Patrol and neighboring agencies.
“I won’t cheerlead the fact that we were able to apprehend this person in such a short period of time. I’m mad as hell that the incident occurred in the first place” Bryant said. “It is such a tragedy when we lose any citizen of this city ... but when it’s a child, it pulls even more at the heartstrings, not just of the men and women of the Atlanta Police Department, but throughout the community.”
Little has a criminal record that dates to 2018, when he was accused of aggravated assault, according to jail and court records. Little was arrested in January 2019 and released less than two months later on $20,000 bond, records show. At the time, he had pending charges in Houston and Peach counties.
In April 2019, he was returned to the Fulton jail and then back to Houston County, booking records show. Last year, Little was arrested in September in connection with the same case, which remains open.
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