Law enforcement investigating whether gangs were involved in killings of 2 little girls

Channel 2 Action News has learned that authorities are investigating possible gang ties to the killings of two little girls.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne has obtained letters that show much of what is going on.

“If the murders of two beautiful little girls are tied to gangs, what’s that say?” Winne asked Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

“It says that this community is in a lot of danger. That this violence must stop,” Willis said.

“These are two innocent children literally gunned down in the streets of Atlanta and anybody and everybody in every agency that can help, we need to do that,” said Vic Reynolds, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Willis told Winne that she sent two letters to Reynolds saying that law enforcement agencies across the metro need to gang up against potential gang issues — this time in two cases that involved the killing of two little girls.

Secoriea Turner, 8, was shot last July 4 near the remains of the Wendy’s where the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks had taken place weeks earlier.

The second girl, Kennedy Maxie, 7, was shot near Phipps Plaza.

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One of the letters from Willis to Reynolds refers to the case against Julian Conley, accused in Secoriea’s death. The other refers to the case against Daquan Reed, who is accused in Kennedy’s death.

In the case involving Reed, his attorney said her client was “innocent and wrongfully charged.”

Both letters say, “this Office’s investigation of the above case indicates that at least some of the involved crimes may be gang-related,” and both include a “formal request for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to provide investigative assistance.”

“How solid is your information on the gang connection?” Winne asked Willis.

“What I would say is that we have strong enough leads that I wrote those letters,” Willis said.

“We’ve developed a gang task force through the GBI and that’s something that they concentrate on not only in the metro area but around the state and that’s working gang cases, fighting criminal street gangs wherever they are,” Reynolds said.

“Gangs are the top priority. We know that they are committing a lot of the violence and a lot of the crime that is committed in this community. You know I’m taking a hard stand against them. I brought Mike Carlson from the GBI to assist as well as a great team to surround him so that we can deal with these issues seriously,” Willis said.

“Hopefully well be able to come in and supplement and assist some already very, very good work by our partners at APD and the Fulton DA’s office and do our best to see if we can find out every single person that may have been involved in these two horrible situations,” Reynolds said.

“Are you investigating whether a gang took control of that area around the Wendy’s where the Rayshard Brooks case happened?” Winne asked Willis.

“Absolutely,” Willis said.

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