2018 Update: Inside the gang killing spree that killed these children and 3 others
They died together when both were shot as they slept in the Clayton County home. This week, a joint funeral will be held for the 15-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister, believed to be innocent victims in a gang-related shooting.
Daveon Lamontay Coates and Tatiyana Monasia Coates, formerly of Chattanooga, died Oct. 22 after being shot in their home near Jonesboro. Four younger children were also in the home but were not harmed, and one was able to call 911. No adults were in the house at the time of the home invasion.
Clayton County police have vowed to find those responsible for the deaths, but no arrests have been made late Sunday.
“There is nothing glamorous about being in a gang,” Chief Mike Register said earlier in the week. “What happened to that 11-year-old and that 15-year-old that morning — you can call yourself whatever you want, but the cold, hard facts are you are a punk and a coward and a murderer to go in and do what you did.”
Satedra Smith didn’t know the Coates family, but felt compelled to place crosses with the siblings’ names in front of the Libby Lane home.
“Somebody is thinking about you,” Smith wanted the siblings’ mother to know. “They were in their beds sleeping peacefully. And that helps me with my prayer and my hope. Hopefully they didn’t see a thing.”
Smith, who has lived in Chattanooga and Atlanta, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she lost her own 20-year-old son to gun violence in August 2015.
Visitation for Daveon and Tatiyana will be held Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Taylor Funeral Home in Chattanooga. The funeral will be Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the funeral home chapel, and burial will be in Highland Memorial Gardens.
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