8-year-old girl fatally shot near Rayshard Brooks' memorial site

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told protesters Sunday to “clear out” of an area where Rayshard Brooks was killed by police last month after an 8-year-old girl was fatally shot over the weekend near the site.

“You shot and killed a baby,” she said in a news conference. “Enough is enough.”

Bottoms said the girl, Secoriea Turner, was shot while riding in a car with her mother and a friend after they tried pulling into a parking lot. The site had been barricaded after Brooks was killed June 12 killing at a Wendy’s parking lot south of downtown Atlanta, prompting weeks of protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

Atlanta interim police Chief Rodney Bryant said the driver was confronted by a group of armed people who had blocked the entrance, which was less than a half-mile from the Wendy’s.

“At some point someone in the group opened fire, striking the car multiple times,” he said.

Secoriea was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

“We understand the frustration of Rayshard Brooks,” the girl’s mother said at the news conference. “We ain’t got nothing to do with that. [We’re] innocent. We didn’t mean no harm. My baby didn’t mean no harm.”

Authorities did not identify any suspects and it was unclear if they were connected to protests that Bottoms said have become a feature of the neighborhood since Brooks’ killing.

Bottoms said the vast majority of demonstrations in the city have been peaceful, though she said there have been occasional flare-ups, including the alleged attempted firebombing of a state patrol building early Sunday morning.

“For every 100 gatherings, we have an incident,” she said. “It’s frustrating.”

Bottoms said authorities had removed other barriers erected by protesters in the area after Brooks' funeral on June 23. She said heard new barriers had been placed there shortly before she learned of Secoriea's killing.

She said local officials had been trying to talk with demonstrators before closing the area.

“We’re not having any more discussions,” she said. “It’s over.”

The former Atlanta officer who fatally shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, was charged with felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes after he shot Brooks twice in the back. Brooks had taken a stun gun from police and was running away when he was shot.

A second officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, was charged with aggravated assault and violation of oath.

Later Sunday, a 53-year old man was killed in a shooting in the area and two other people were wounded, according to the Atlanta Police Department.