Family of deadly Atlanta shooting victim pleads for end to gun violence

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Rodney Williams is still numb and in disbelief that his dear granddaughter, Bre’Asia Powell, is gone forever.

The family will lay the 16-year-old to rest later this week after she was shot and killed at a graduation party outside Benjamin E. Mays High School early Sunday morning.

“I’m a dead man walking right now, I ain’t got no spirit. I’ve been dreaming about my baby, I’ve been talking to myself about my baby. I worry about her and her mom right now, so I’m in a state that I really can’t explain you know what I mean,” he said.

In 911 calls released on Wednesday, you can hear a group of teenagers crying and screaming for help.

Powell and a 16-year-old boy were later rushed to the hospital. The boy survived, Powell did not.

RELATED: Atlanta city leaders call on end to youth gun violence after shooting

A star athlete and scholar, Powell was an Atlanta teenager on the right path.

Powell had just finished her sophomore year at Benjamin E. Mays High School and was supposed to start working for the City of Atlanta’s summer youth employment program.

“She was just a cheery kid. She ran from one sport and one activity to another, she never got no rest,” said Williams.

Powell’s family is angry and in pain, eager for the killer to be brought to justice.

“I don’t want this to go just another one swept under the rug. Another one got killed, oh well,” he said.

They’re demanding an end to the gun violence that claimed her promising young life in this southwest Atlanta neighborhood and pray no more families will ever have to endure this.

“I’m hoping my words will reach somebody’s child, reach somebody’s mama, reach someone in the community,” he said.

If you have any information about the deadly shooting, contact Atlanta Police or Crime Stoppers.

Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.