ATLANTA — The Fulton County District District on Thursday released a list of child homicide cases still being prosecuted by her office, after earlier this week she said such violence against children "has to end."
Fulton DA Fani Willis was speaking at a news conference earlier this week following the drive-by shooting death of 6-month-old Grayson Fleming when she said she was "disgusted" at the child's death.
She said it was the third instance of a child being shot already this year in Atlanta.
"We're 25 days in this year and three children have been shot in one of the greatest cities in the world," she added. "I already had in my office, before this child, 22 child homicides. It has to end."
Willis' office released the list of those cases, showing that some date back as far as 2015 and 2016. The victims range in ages from just five weeks to 16 years old.
Outside of the 22 cases, the list includes a small handful of other cases - five of them - where defendants remain unindicted. That includes a 2018 case, three from last year and the case this month of the death of a one-year-old who was shot by another child after finding an unsecured gun in the room they were in. The mother of that child faces a second-degree murder charge.
The list of victims includes:
- 6-month-old Landen Jakob Hurt (June 6, 2015)
- 3-year-old Demario Henderson (Jan. 28, 2016)
- 10-month-old Kobe Conley Shaw (March 10, 2016)
- 8-month-old Judiyah Barr (March 29, 2017)
- 1-year-old McKenzie Duffey (June 8, 2017)
- 5-year-old Benjamin Hosch (July 21, 2017)
- 15-month-old Ja'Karter Williams and 2-year-old Ke'Yaunte Penn (Oct. 13, 2017)
- 3-month-old Mekhi Calhoun (Feb. 13, 2018)
- 2-month-old Khaliya Wilson (Nov. 9, 2018)
- 14-year-old Sonja Harrison (Nov. 18, 2018)
- 2-month-old Alex Rowland III (Nov. 23, 2018)
- 3-month-old Shamiah Clark (March 7, 2019)
- 1-year-old Shiree Walker (May 16, 2019)
- 2-year-old Aria Rone (Jan. 20, 2020)
- 6-week-old Halijah Leslie (March 24, 2020)
- 5-year-old Savannah Adams (March 29, 2020)
- 10-month-old Titus Brown (July 18, 2020)
- 2-year-old Fallon Fridley (Dec. 9, 2020)
- 16-year-old Kalecia Williams (Dec. 26, 2020)
- 6-month-old Malika Westbrooks (Feb. 15, 2021)
- 5-week-old Naheed Elder (March 18, 2021)
- 2-year-old Jaloni Williams (March 31, 2021)
- 1-year-old Brian Smith Jr. (June 18, 2021)
- 1-year-old Saji Bonner (June 23, 2021)
- 8-year-old Kayden Jones (Nov. 13, 2021)
- 4-month-old Deunta Williams Jr. (Dec. 17, 2021)
- 1-year-old Saint Bailey (Jan. 12, 2022)
Most of the cases involved physical abuse, such as beatings, while four involved gun deaths.
In 6-month-old Grayson's death, police have arrested Dequasie Jonathan Little and Sharice Ingram, who turned herself in on Wednesday. Atlanta Police said the child, who was not the intended target, was in a vehicle along Anderson Avenue when he was hit by a bullet. Little faces murder and other charges, while Ingram faces party to a crime charges.