Tyler Perry is Paying Funeral Expenses for 8-Year-Old Girl Shot in Atlanta

Tyler Perry has announced that he offered to pay the funeral expenses for an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in Atlanta over the weekend.

Speaking with People magazine, the filmmaker said in a statement, “I’m outraged today because I’d rather be paying for 8-year-old Secoriea Turner’s college than her funeral. When does this end?”

Recall that Secoriea 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 the girl was hit.

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 video 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.