{"id":58691,"date":"2020-07-07T21:45:35","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T21:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/07\/atlanta-mayor-no-need-for-national-guard-troops-despite-governors-order\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:51:43","slug":"atlanta-mayor-no-need-for-national-guard-troops-despite-governors-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/07\/07\/atlanta-mayor-no-need-for-national-guard-troops-despite-governors-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta mayor: No need for National Guard troops, despite governor\u2019s order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA \u2014 The mayor of Atlanta said Tuesday that she doesn\u2019t agree with the Georgia governor\u2019s order to mobilize the National Guard in her city as a surge in violence became a political talking point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Monday and authorized activation of up to 1,000 Guard troops <\/a>after a weekend of gun violence in Atlanta left five people dead, including Secoriea Turner, an 8-year-old girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police on Tuesday released a short video of an armed man who they described as a person of interest in the girl\u2019s shooting. Atlanta Police Lt. Pete Malecki said the video comes from a surveillance camera near where Secoriea was shot while riding in the back seat of an SUV. The reward for information in the case was doubled to $20,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kemp\u2019s office said troops will provide support at sites such as the Capitol, governor\u2019s mansion and the state Department of Public Safety headquarters \u2014 damaged by a group early Sunday \u2014 freeing state law enforcement to patrol other areas of the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some National Guard troops guarded those sites Monday night, but there was no visible presence by mid-morning Tuesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous, destructive agenda. Now, innocent Georgians are being targeted, shot, and left for dead,\u201d the Republican governor said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In
In this July 17, 2019, file photo, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks during a Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Andrew Harnik\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Kemp issued his order without asking if the city needed help. The city had already been coordinating with the Georgia State Patrol, and \u201cat no time was it mentioned that anyone felt there was a need for the National Guard to come in,\u201d she said on ABC\u2019s \u201cGood Morning America.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maj. Gen. Tom Carden, who oversees the Georgia National Guard, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/a> that troops stood guard at the three sites Monday night and will return Tuesday night. He said the first night was peaceful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carden declined to say how many troops were deployed, citing safety concerns. There were four Humvees with 10 to 12 armed troops outside the Georgia State Capitol Tuesday evening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secoriea Turner was riding with her mother and another adult Saturday night near a Wendy\u2019s that was burned after a Black man, Rayshard Brooks, was fatally shot by a white police officer in the restaurant parking lot last month. When the SUV Secoriea was in tried to enter a parking lot, they were confronted by \u201ca group of armed individuals\u201d blocking the entrance, police said. The girl\u2019s mother, Charmaine Turner, said shots were fired and Secoriea was hit before they could make a U-turn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video released Tuesday shows a Black man in a white shirt and dark pants carrying an AR-15 rifle with a tan stock and grip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to ask, I\u2019m going to plead, for the assistance of the public in helping us get a person of interest identified in the case,\u201d Malecki told reporters. \u201cI\u2019m confident that somebody, somebody knows the name of this male.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malecki said police believe \u201cnumerous armed individuals\u201d were present at the barricade on University Avenue and that at least four people may have participated in the shooting. He said police believe at least eight gunshots were fired into the Jeep after Turner tried to drive across the barricade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In
In this June 17, 2020, file photo, Nikita Gleen, raises his hand towards the sky near a Wendy’s restaurant, in Atlanta. The restaurant was where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by the police. (Brynn Anderson\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fast food outlet was burned the night after Brooks\u2019 death, and the site had become a focus of frequent demonstrations against police brutality. At least intermittently, armed people had manned a barricade on the street in front of the Wendy\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police had removed barricades at least once before, but one journalist was assaulted near the site and gunmen threatened or turned back other people. Atlanta police helped sanitation crews clear the area Monday, despite some protesters who said they were not part of the violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nikema Williams, a state senator and chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, called Kemp\u2019s decision reckless. Critics of such mobilizations have said that deploying troops on city streets could provoke more violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis choice to deploy National Guard troops for today\u2019s selfish purpose is outrageous and will endanger lives,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\t