As three cars drove past a southeast Atlanta gas station on Easter Sunday in April 2018, occupants in the cars began firing shots from paint guns.
One of the paintballs struck Christopher Cullins, then 15, who rushed to grab a gun and return fire with real ammo, court testimony revealed. But when he misfired, a stray bullet killed T’Rhigi Craig Diggs, a 3-year-old boy riding in the back seat of his mother’s car, authorities said.
Cullins, now 19, was in a DeKalb County courtroom Friday and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the shooting, District Attorney Sherry Boston announced in a news release. He was originally charged with murder when he was arrested three days after the incident.
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison followed by seven years of probation after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Boston said.
T’Rhigi’s mother, Roshonda Craig, told Cullins she forgave him but indicated she wanted a longer sentence for her son’s killer.
“We’re not satisfied with it, but there’s nothing we can do,” she said.
The deadly shooting unfolded around 11:30 p.m. in the aftermath of what prosecutors described as a “paintball drive-by.”
The paintballs struck gas pumps at the Texaco along Bouldercrest Drive, splattered on the windows of the mini mart and struck several people outside the gas station.
Cullins was one of the people hit by the paintballs. The teen was at the gas station with his mother, sister and cousin. According to Boston, he ran to his cousin’s car in the parking lot and retrieved a gun from the floorboard. Cullins fired one bullet at the group of drive-by shooters as they sped away.
Craig was driving on Eastland Road near the Texaco gas station with T’Rhigi, her only son, strapped into a car seat in the back seat.
She told DeKalb County investigators she saw people at the gas station shooting paintball guns, then she heard a real gunshot ring out. As she waited to make a turn, Craig and her son got caught in the crossfire. A bullet pierced the back door of her car and struck T’Rhigi in the chest.
Police used surveillance footage from the gas station to identify Cullins as the shooter, Boston said. He later confessed, claiming he returned fire to defend himself from the paintball shooters.
Craig said two of Cullins’s sisters apologized to her during the emotional hearing and one of them gave her a hug afterward.
Cullins’ attorney read a letter written by the teen in which he told Craig he felt bad that she lost her son.
T’Rhigi’s grandmother, Sherita Craig Brown, told the AJC that prosecutors had offered Cullins a similar plea deal years ago and the family told Boston then that it was not a severe enough punishment for taking a toddler’s life.
“I just don’t understand why they would come back and offer it to him again. It’s almost like they were trying to force him to go ahead and take it just to push it out of the way,” she said.
Craig Brown testified during Friday’s hearing and described T’Rhigi as a precocious baby who loved to dance.
“I feel like he was a floater. I feel like he had been here before and that he was just passing through,” she said. “We didn’t know how long we’re gonna have him, but his personality at his age, he was just very mature. He just acted a little older than your normal 3-year-old.”
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