‘Take it down’: Secoriea Turner’s family condemns new Rick Jackson ad

The family of an 8-year-old girl who was shot and killed in Atlanta is demanding that Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson take down a campaign ad featuring her mother’s anguished 911 call, saying the spot forces the family to relive the tragedy.

Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive, is facing Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in the Nov. 3 election. Bottoms was mayor of Atlanta when Secoriea Turner was shot and killed in 2020 after the SUV her mother was driving was hit by eight bullets from armed protesters near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks had been killed by a police officer.

In a new ad released Wednesday, a recording of the desperate 911 call from Turner’s mother plays alongside images of her daughter. It’s part of Jackson’s criticism of Bottoms’ public safety record when she was mayor.

Asked if they would honor the family’s request, Garrison Douglas, Jackson’s campaign spokesperson, said, “We’ll continue to tell the stories of Keisha Lance Bottoms’ failures as mayor.”

Attorney Mawuli Mel Davis, who represents Turner’s family, called the campaign’s response “despicable.”

“That statement says, ‘I don’t care. All I’m focused on is (talking) about Keisha Lance Bottoms,’” he said.

Davis and other family attorneys held a news conference on Thursday calling on Jackson to remove the ad and for TV stations not to air it.

Secoriea’s family did not attend the news conference. Her mother, Charmaine Turner, is also suing Bottoms and the city of Atlanta over the handling of the unrest surrounding her daughter’s 2020 killing.

It was the second time Secoriea’s family has asked Jackson to stop using photos of her in his campaign materials. Last week, Charmaine Turner accused Jackson of exploiting the family’s pain by using her daughter’s photograph on a mailer.

“Secoriea Turner is not a campaign slogan, she’s not a political talking point, she’s a child,” attorney Shean Williams said. “She was someone’s daughter, and her life mattered. Some things are just bigger than politics.”

Jackson’s campaign acknowledged the “immense pain the Turner family has gone through.”

“They are not a political talking point,” Douglas said in a statement. “They are one of the major reasons why Rick is running — so that another family does not have to experience such a devastating tragedy as a result of Keisha Lance Bottoms’ abdication of her duty.”

Secoriea’s death became a flashpoint in the criticism against Bottoms’ response to the nationwide protests and violent crime spike the city saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Armed vigilantes had taken over the remains of the Wendy’s restaurant near University Avenue and Pryor Road where Brooks had been killed by police weeks earlier. The site became what police called an “autonomous zone,” with officers instructed to stay away from the area.

Secoriea was heading home after a day of July 4 festivities with her family when her mother’s car was peppered with gunfire at a makeshift roadblock placed by occupiers.

Bottoms faced major pushback for delaying police crackdown of the volatile site. She calls the decision her “biggest regret” of how she handled unrest that shook Atlanta that summer.