A 19-year-old suspect in the July 4 shooting death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner turned himself in to Atlanta police Wednesday afternoon, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The Atlanta Police Department had put out a warrant for Julian Conley arrest after circulating his photograph on Sunday as a person of interest, Conley’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, said.
“When you have a warrant out, you have to turn yourself in,” he said when the two arrived at police headquarters. “So that’s what we are going to do.”
Secoriea Turner was in a car with her mother and a friend of her mother’s on the night of July 5 when her mother tried to drive through illegal barricades near the south Atlanta Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed by a police officer on June 12, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Turner’s mother was reportedly trying to turn into a parking lot when a group of armed people blocked the entrance. The suspects fired into the car, mortally wounding the little girl, who was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
WSB spoke with Conley on Tuesday, and the teen said that he was at the scene on July 4 across the street from the now-burned-out Wendy’s and that he had a weapon on him — but he didn’t fire.
“At the end of the day, I had nothing to do with it,” Conley said. “I feel terribly sorry about what happened to Secoriea Turner.
Conley told WSB that a man driving the car the little girl was in drove through the barricade, striking a man with a rifle.
Conley said he had a weapon on him that night but he did not open fire on anyone.
“And when that person fell to the ground, the person got up and started firing at that vehicle,” Pattersen said.
Pattersen said Conley does not know the shooter.
Police, however, have said four people opened fire at the SUV that night.
Conley, who has been charged with murder and aggravated assault, is expected in court for a bond hearing on Thursday. Police are still looking for the first man they identified as a person of interest, seen in video in a white t-shirt carrying an AR-15.
Meanwhile, Secoriea was laid to rest Wednesday after a funeral that was streamed because of COVID-19 concerns.
“They say there’s a reason. They say time will heal,” Charmaine Turner, the girl’s mother, said, according to WSB. “But neither time or reason will change how I feel.’
“No one knows my heartache. No on knows how many times I’ve prayed that my baby would be here,” she said. “So there won’t be any doubt, you’re so wonderful to think about. But so hard to be without.”
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[Featured image: Secoriea Turner/handout]
