ATLANTA — Atlanta Police have made an arrest in connection to a 6-month-old's shooting death that happened Monday afternoon. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens made the announcement Tuesday in a news conference.
APD Chief Rodney Bryant said 22-year-old Dequasie Little was taken into custody in Decatur, but more arrests could come. Little is charged with aggravated assault and felony murder, according to APD.
“We're confident that we have the shooter and we’re looking to gather more individuals that were involved," said Bryant.
Shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday, 6-month-old Grayson Fleming was shot and killed near Atlanta's Anderson Park. Officers responded to 202 Anderson Ave NW. – an area with a Food Mart convenience store and a small auto shop in Atlanta's Dixie Hills neighborhood. APD said the baby was in a vehicle when he was hit by a bullet during a drive-by shooting. The child was not the intended target.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Atlanta Police released a video of a SUV investigators were seeking out in the shooting. A witness said he saw a black car and a silver Jeep going down the street with at least one person firing shots from a vehicle.
"I think at that time the didn't even realize the baby had been hit," the witness said. "Because she got out the car and she walked around the car and when she opened the back door and looked in, that's when she realized the baby had been shot."
"God has taken another angel in the worst way possible," Kerri Gray said, posting about her baby's death on Facebook.
The mayor, who went to the scene after the shooting happened Monday, said gun violence is out of control and they want to put a stop to it.
Bryant echoed that statement.
"I'm mad as hell that the incident occurred in the first place," the police chief said. "We're in a place where violence in our major cities and in our country has gotten out of control."
He said they are seeing too many incidents where people don't know how to resolve conflicts.
"What can you say to a mother who has lost a child? To nonsense, to nonsense. We've got to do better," Bryant said.
Dickens said he grew up not far from where the shooting happened, and he still lives in that area. He described the heartbreaking moment of talking to the family after the shooting.
"There's a mother and a father that the chief and I -- just on the other side of police tape -- we had to talk to a family right after this incident occurred. They were bystanders and hand nothing to do with this -- innocent. And here they are with blood on their clothes and on their hands and we're talking to them, consoling them and letting them know that at the end of the day we're there for them and that we were going bring justice to the people that did this to their child and did this to their family," Dickens said.
"We will not stop until we stop this gun violence," the mayor added.
District Attorney Fani Willis commended the department for quickly making an arrest, saying she was "disgusted" that the shooting happened.
"We're 25 days in this year and three children have been shot in one of the greatest cities in the world," she said.
"I already had in my office, before this child, 22 child homicides. It has to end," she said.
She said her office is working together with the police department on this case. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact APD.
