Criticism of Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson is growing louder after his campaign used the 911 call in the fatal shooting of Secoriea Turner and footage of the grieving family in a political ad.
Turner is the 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in the head with an AR-15 rifle on July 4, 2020, outside the former Wendy’s restaurant on University Avenue in Atlanta. The incident occurred following the chaotic aftermath of the police murder of Rayshard Brooks at the same location.
The ad includes the distressed 911 audio of Secoriea Turner’s mother, Charmaine Turner, wailing in agony after her daughter was shot by alleged gang members. Jackson’s ad targets former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ handling of the situation and additional unrest that originally erupted in response to the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Bottoms’ tenure as mayor coincided with the nationwide wave of unrest that also engulfed Atlanta. Jackson has made that era a central focus in a series of campaign ads blasting Bottoms for poor judgement and lack of leadership during a period commonly referred to as the “uprisings” and the “racial reckoning.”
At a press conference last week, the Turner family and their attorney, Mawuli Davis, called on the Jackson campaign team to stop running the ad.
Others have joined him, posting comments under the ad featured on Rick Jackson’s X account.
“[The] family asked you to stop exploiting her death sleezeball,” X user @JoeToBomb wrote on Oct. 8.
“The girl’s mother SPECIFICALLY told y’all to keep her child’s name out of any these political ads & you’re re-traumatizing her,” @suthernGeorgian added.
So far, Jackson has refused to comply.
Campaign spokesman Garrison Douglas defended the ad, telling Capital B Atlanta that Secoriea Turner is more than a prop for the GOP nominee, who has made promoting public safety a top priority for his campaign.
“We cannot imagine the immense pain the Turner family has gone through,” Douglas said via text message. “They are not a political talking point. They are one of the major reasons why Rick is running — so that another family does not have to experience such a devastating tragedy as a result of Keisha Lance Bottoms’ abdication of her duty.”
A Fulton County judge in September 2025 sentenced Julian Conley to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 25 years in Secoriea Turner’s murder.
Metro Atlanta activist Fonta High, co-chair of the Decatur-based social justice nonprofit Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, called out Jackson for weaponizing the Turner tragedy to score political points.
“We see certain politicians who would take advantage of our pain and suffering for their own political gain,” High told Capital B Atlanta “If [Jackson is] willing to do this at the cost of this Black family’s pain, what else is he willing to do at the cost of the Black community?”
Local faith leader Keith Jamal Hammond started a petition over the weekend to have the Secoreia Turner ad pulled.
“How would Rick Jackson feel if somebody was running an ad about his lost loved one?” Hammond said. “How far will he go? It seems very insensitive.”
Last Friday, conservative radio host Shelley Wynter, who has endorsed Jackson’s gubernatorial bid, also called for the billionaire founder of Jackson Healthcare to take down the ad.
“If the family is asking you not to air it, don’t air it,” Wynter told his 95.5 WSB radio listeners in a clip also shared on his Facebook page. “At this point, airing it doesn’t endear yourself to moderates. It doesn’t endear yourself to independents. … At this point, you’re doing more harm to the campaign than the ad is delivering in positives. Yes, the ad is a devastating ad, but the family doesn’t want you to air it.”
Jackson’s ad also includes news clips of Turner family attorney Davis criticising Bottoms and the city of Atlanta for not doing more to quell the violence in the city.
“Leading up to the death of Secoreia Turner, the city and the mayor were aware of a very dangerous set of circumstances outside of the Wendy’s,” Davis said during the press conference. “They knew that there were armed vigilantes blockading a public street and they took no action.”
Davis confirmed Monday that a lawsuit he and the Turner family filed against the city and Bottoms in June 2021 is still active. He said his remarks are being “misused” by Jackson and in a way Davis never authorized or intended.
“What he has done is taken this family’s pain and re-wounded them, retraumatized them for his own personal gain,” Davis said. “I would never align myself with someone who just flat out disregards the wishes of a family who has suffered the way this family has.”
Bottoms echoed Davis’ concerns, saying the Turner family “deserves compassion, dignity, and respect.”
“They have asked that their grief not be weaponized for political gain, and their wishes should be honored,” Bottoms shared via text message.
Polls show Jackson and Bottoms in a dead heat heading into the final stretch of this year’s election. Early voting started Tuesday.
Experts say the multimillion dollar ad spending gap between Jackson and Bottoms has helped Jackson poll ahead of other Republican candidates running in other states during a time when President Donald Trump’s unpopularity has been a drag on the GOP ticket.
Trump is scheduled to stump in support of Georgia’s Republican candidates, including Jackson and scandal-plagued U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins, on Friday.
Read More:
