ATLANTA — The grandmother of a 3-year-old boy killed in his babysitter’s care is pleading for someone to come forward and tell what happened.
Atlanta Police say the shooting happened early Sunday morning along Washington Street in southwest Atlanta, near the Georgia State University stadium.
Trinette Julian says she was planning a big surprise for her grandson, Armani Lyons, for Easter.
“This was his Easter basket I made for him,” she said as she showed Channel 2’s Tom Jones his special gift.
The basket is still filled with candy and Armani’s favorite toy monster trucks.
“He will never get a chance to play with them,’ she said.
Hours before little Armani was going to get his basket, he died from a gunshot wound to the head inside his 70-year-old babysitter’s apartment, at around 12:30 that morning.
“Shattered. Shattered. It’s just a hole in my heart,” his grandmother said.
What hurts even more is she says police aren’t saying what happened. “His mom needs justice. The family needs justice. Like this something that shouldn’t have happened.”
Julian says the babysitter should know what happened since she was there.
“If the babysitter know something she need to speak, like, period,” she said.
Atlanta Police said at a news conference Monday the babysitter is a witness at this point and they have questioned her.
Julian says Armani’s mother has used the babysitter in the past.
“This was our picture I took. The last picture” Julian said, as she showed pictures of her and Armani in her phone.
Julian says her grandson was the love of her life. They loved to make TikTok videos together, and he was so full of energy. Now he is gone and Julian wants the person who took him away to pay.
“I want to see whoever did this behind bars,’ she said.
Police say this is an active investigation. They say there were other people in the apartment during the shooting, but those individuals have not been identified.
Julian hopes the babysitter will share who they were.
A GoFundMe has been started to help the family with funeral and other costs.
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