A local advocacy group is offering a $5000 reward to help police find whoever fatally shot an Atlanta man in front of his three-year-old daughter at a bus stop Tuesday.
The United Youth-Adult Conference announced the reward at a news conference Thursday on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway across the street from the MARTA bus stop where Dantavious “Dee” Chatman was killed.
Chatman, 31, was shot dead while he and daughter Dakayla waited for a bus on Hollowell Parkway late Tuesday night.
Chatman and the toddler had just left the home of his mother, Veronica Tuggle, and were headed to their home off Jonesboro Road, Tuggle said. Dakayla was excited to get home to see her mom, Tuggle said.
Some family members were sitting on Tuggle’s porch. “They saw the guy walk up to him and start shooting,” Tuggle told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday. “I can look out my front door and actually see where he got killed.” Tuggle ran to the bus stop, and found Dakayla trembling and scared.
“What kind of animal would do this in front of a 3-year-old baby?” Tuggle asked.
Investigators were searching Thursday for the person responsible for shooting Chatman. No further information was released on suspects or a possible motive. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Atlanta police.
A Go Fund me page was set up to help the family with funeral costs and to start a fund for Dakayla's future.
Members of the advocacy group brought the reward money with them to the news conference.
State Sen. Vincent Fort added another $1000. “We want the police chief Turner to make this a priority,” he said.
They urged the community to come forward to help find the killer.
“…we must make it perfectly clear that Black Life Taken by other Blacks is equally disturbing and unacceptable,” said Michael Langford, the president of United Youth-Adult Conference, said in an emailed statement.
Staff reporter Alexis Stevens contributed to this story.
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