DeKalb County police on Wednesday made an appeal to the public for help solving little T’Rhigi “Ralo” Diggs’ death.
Detectives released security camera footage from a Texaco gas station off Bouldercrest Road, showing three people who could have witnessed the shooting that killed the 3-year-old. It happened Sunday night, Easter, as his mother, Roshonda Craig, 26, was driving near the business.
She has said she saw what she thought was a paint ball gun pointing from another car and then heard a real gunshot.
“We’re still trying to piece together exactly what happened,” Lt. Lonzy Robertson, police spokesman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The gas station did get sprayed with paint balls about the same time.”
Police and the mother have said they felt the shooting could’ve been a hit gone wrong. Detectives don’t believe the child or mother were the targets and that the shooter thought someone else was behind the wheel.
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Initially, police described the shooting as a drive-by, though they are now also weighing the possibility that the shot came from the gas station parking lot. Detectives hope speaking with the people at the gas station could add clarity.
The police are searching for a gray Dodge Charger, which had a temporary tag. Detectives initially thought it could’ve been the car carrying the killer, but they now feel anyone in the Charger might’ve only witnessed part of the situation.
After the gunshot, the mother heard her boy crying and pulled off the side of Bouldercrest Road near Cecilia Drive, finding him him with a gunshot to the chest, according to a report released Wednesday.
When police arrived, they saw the child on the ground, covered in blood, with several people helping with CPR. A officer said the child appeared alert before being taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston, but he was pronounced dead later.
He’d turned 3 only two days earlier.
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