A five-year-old girl, identified as Skylar Adams, was injured during a police incident in Douglas County, sparking outrage and prompting the involvement of national civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bakari Sellers. As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, the unfortunate event unfolded when Mike Palmer, a suspect in police custody, escaped and attempted a carjacking at a BP gas station. During the chaos, gunfire from a deputy, intended to subdue Palmer, inadvertently struck Skylar, who was seated in the back of her mother's BMW.
Aaliyah Adams, Skylar's mother, described the trauma of the situation in an interview with 11Alive, recounting her daughter's cries of fear and confusion; the young child articulated the distressing experience stating, "I done got shot! I done got shot! It's the worst day of my life. They shot me," a reflection of an innocence abruptly interrupted and, while Palmer was cornered and taken back into custody, the case spun into a critique of law enforcement practices and accountability.
Crump has been vocal concerning the deputy's actions, condemning what he suggests was excessive force and a lack of concern for the safety of innocents, he stated, "Recklessness and negligence aren’t strong enough to describe what he did. He is a clear danger and he must be held accountable." Echoing this sentiment, Sellers emphasized the emotional burden on the family, stressing the permanent impact such an event could wreak upon a child's life, in statements obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta.
Sellers and Crump, according to a release from their offices, are calling for not only an accounting by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office but immediate action against the deputy involved as the family, shaken by the shooting, weighs its legal options, including filing a civil lawsuit, in the face of a domestically peaceful life torn asunder by what was supposed to be a protective arm of society engaging instead in the delivery of trauma to a child's doorstep, the scars of which may fade on skin but less so in the mind. The GBI has taken up the case for investigation, as confirmed by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, and observers and family members alike now await due process, hoping for a modicum of justice in the wake of a five-year-old's night turned nightmare.
