Tyler Perry to pay funeral expenses for 8-year-old girl shot in Atlanta
Tyler Perry has offered to pay the funeral expenses for an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in Atlanta over the weekend, a representative for the actor and filmmaker confirmed Wednesday. “I’m
Tyler Perry has offered to pay the funeral expenses for an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in Atlanta over the weekend, a representative for the actor and filmmaker confirmed Wednesday.
“I’m outraged today because I’d rather be paying for 8-year-old Secoriea Turner’s college than her funeral,” Perry said in a statement to People magazine. “When does this end?”
Secoriea Turner was riding in a Jeep Cherokee with her mother and another adult on Saturday night when they encountered “a makeshift roadblock that was manned by numerous armed individuals,” Atlanta police Lt. Pete Malecki said. When the driver tried to go around the roadblock, shots were fired, and Secoriea was hit, Malecki told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
Police released a short video Tuesday of an armed man who they described as a person of interest in the girl’s shooting. Malecki said the footage comes from a surveillance camera near where Secoriea was shot. It shows a Black man in a white shirt and dark pants carrying an AR-15 rifle with a tan stock and grip.
A reward of up to $20,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest and indictment of a suspect in the case.
Turner was shot near Wendy’s, where 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks, was killed by a white police officer on June 12. The fast-food outlet was later burned, and the area has since become a site for frequent demonstrations against police brutality. Perry also paid for Brooks’ funeral last month.
