A Virginia man has been arrested for the murder of Kennedy Maxie, a 7-year-old girl who was killed at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta on December 21.
Daquan Reed was apprehended in Hampton, Virginia, where he is being held as a fugitive from justice. His extradition is pending.
Online records show that he was scheduled for a hearing to take place Thursday morning, but it was continued. Another hearing has been set for January 21.
Reed faces charges of felony murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and reckless conduct.
According to the Atlanta police report, Maxie was shot in the head and fatally injured as she was riding in her aunt’s car by the Phipps Plaza shopping mall on December 21. She survived at first, but the injuries eventually took their toll. It took more than a week for the public to identify a suspect, but following a press conference on December 29 a suspect was identified.
Atlanta detective Lt. Pete Malecki said Reed, described at the time as a Virginia man with a felony conviction for forgery, got into an argument at Saks Fifth Avenue. He then left the parking lot in a vehicle, and fired from the window in a “senseless act of rage”. One of the rounds hit Maxie.
Reed’s attorney Steve Washington said that Maxie’s death was a “complete tragedy.”
Attorney Washington also represented Reed in a 2019 case, in which the defendant was convicted as an accessory after the fact in a shooting at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk, Virginia.
Attorney Washington was reluctant to provide details related to the Maxie case, and he asked the public to keep an open mind regarding his client’s alleged guilt.
We don’t have any facts, or any evidence,” he said. “We don’t have anything right now, so respectfully, I ask that everyone just to reserve their judgment right now and just allow the facts and the evidence to play out in a court of law.
The news of this shooting put a damper on the holiday spirit in Atlanta, and many Atlanta celebrities shared their sentiment on social media.
Reed needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law. A child lost her life, and a the world lost a beautiful black princess because he was upset. These senseless acts of violence have to stop!
Source: Law & Crime
