Teen charged in shooting that killed 3-year-old on Easter

Parents express relief, pain as teen is charged in 3-year-old's death
By: Justin Wilfon, WSB-TV
Updated: April 12, 2018 - 11:10 AM

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Police have made an arrest in the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy, caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting in DeKalb County.

T'Rhigi Diggs was killed on Easter when he was shot while sitting in a car outside a gas station at Eastland and Bouldercrest roads.

Investigators said they arrested a 15-year-old boy and have charged him with murder in the case.

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T’Rhigi's parents told Channel 2’s Justin Wilfon that they were stunned to hear that police believe their child was killed by a child.

“That’s sad, people need to learn how to keep their children in their house, in school,” said T’Rhigi’s mother, Rashonda Craig.

DeKalb County police believe the teenager shot and killed T’Rhigi as he rode past the gas station in his mother’s car on Easter Sunday.

“I don’t know how to even come at that. A 15-year-old boy? Like, I’m just glad they found him, that’s it,” said T’Rhigi’s father, Jamel Diggs.

Diggs’ parents told Wilfon they were confident police would find their son’s killer.

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“I knew they would make an arrest. I believe in God. And I knew that it was going to come to the light,” Craig said.

Police said surveillance footage from the gas station and interviews with witnesses led them to the shooter, but police won’t yet say why the boy allegedly fired the shot.

While Diggs’ parents are relieved police made an arrest, they also know nothing can bring their son back.

“Every day is a battle. My son is gone,” Diggs said. “It hurts, but I know he’s in a better place. I feel it.”

“The loss of T’Rhigi is tragic and senseless. It is my hope that this arrest will bring some sense of comfort and closure to his family,” DeKalb County Police Chief James W. Conroy said in a news release Wednesday.

Because of the alleged shooter’s age, his name is not being released.

Detectives are trying to locate a witness captured by surveillance footage who they said has not come forward. He is a witness and asked to call DeKalb County police, detectives said.

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