Tyler Perry is covering the funeral expenses for the family of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner after she fatally shot in Atlanta on July 4. The shooting reportedly took place near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe.
“Who said that outrage has to choose a side?” the filmmaker said to PEOPLE in a statement. “When so many Black people like George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks were killed, I was outraged and did what I could to help their families. When a white police officer was shot in the head trying to stop a shoplifter in a suburb outside of Atlanta, I was outraged and I did what I could to help him and his family.”
“And when we are killing each other, including our innocent children, I am outraged,” he added. “It doesn’t matter what color wrong comes in, wrong is wrong. 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?”
Turner was reportedly riding in her mother’s car when she was fatally shot. The family exited off of a highway and tried to turn around in a parking lot. At that time, a group of armed individuals blocked the vehicle from leaving. The car was hit with gunshots several times. Turner’s mother then drove to the hospital and her daughter was later pronounced dead.
“An 8-year-old girl was killed last night because her mother was riding down the street,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said on Sunday (July 5). “If Secoriea was not safe last night, none of us are safe. You shot and killed a baby. And there wasn’t just one shooter, there were at least two shooters.”
Last month, Perry covered the funeral costs for Brooks and offered to pay the college tuitions for all four of his children.