ATLANTA — This week could bring closure and perhaps justice for the family of 7-year-old Kennedy Maxie.
The young girl was in a car with her mother and aunt on Dec. 21, 2020, as they finished their Christmas shopping in the Buckhead area.
Then Maxie was shot as they drove down Peachtree Road near Phipps Plaza.
"She was unresponsive, she was like hunched over. I was trying to like get her to sit up and was calling her name," Kennedy's mother Mariah Maxie said during an emotional testimony Friday as the trial began.
Maxie died days later on Dec. 26.
At the time of the shooting, prosecutors have told the jury that Daquan Reed was in another car with three other people.
Reed is charged and accused of murdering Maxie.
Court documents include a witness list showing the three individuals Reed was in a car with at the time of the shooting could be called as witnesses by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.
Also listed as potential witnesses are a long list of Atlanta Police officers, ballistic experts and other investigators.
On Friday, in addition to Mariah Maxie, Kennedy's aunt, mall employees, mall security staff and an Atlanta Police officer who responded to the scene of the shooting testified.
According to prosecutors, someone robbed Reed in the mall parking lot and investigators believe he then was irate as he left the parking lot.
"He was ranting and raving, angry. He pulled out his gun and he shot out the window," prosecutor Pat Dutcher said during his open statement on Friday.
One of the two shots prosecutors claim Reed shot traveled through the trunk of Maxie's car and then went through Kennedy's seat before hitting her.
Reed's attorney though told the jury Friday during her opening statement to question any testimony from the people Reed was with at the time of the shooting, as she claims their stories don't add up.
"No scientific evidence will match, the crime scene won't match, the video footage won't match, the autopsy, the trajectory won't match their story," Defense Attorney Nicole Fegan said.
Reed's attorney also claimed there will be no evidence during the trial showing her client holding a gun, let alone the murder weapon at the time of the shooting, or pulling a trigger.
In addition to calling the individuals Reed was with to testify, this week prosecutors could also show the jurors private messages he sent on Instagram over the days after the shooting.
"The defendant is having conversations with his associates who were present at the scene about not talking with the police and that it could mess him up if they do," Dutcher said while describing the messages during his opening statement. "He also admits that on December 24 that he sold the gun he had."