Family wants answers after fatal Checkers shooting

ATLANTA — The family of a man killed as he waited for his order at a fast-food restaurant spoke to Channel 2 Action News about their loss Monday.

Police said Harry Newman, 52, was parked at a Checkers restaurant on Campbellton Road when he was fatally shot in the stomach. Channel 2's Carl Willis spoke to the last relative to see Newman alive. Niqua Jones said Newman was disabled and a retired Navy veteran.

"Why would you shoot a man with a handicapped tag?" said Jones. "He was harmless. If you saw him, his whole demeanor was love."

Jones said he and his uncle had just returned from buying supplies for Newman's birthday party, which would have been held this week. Then, he went back out for a late-night trip to a drive-thru.

"I said, 'I'll just cook you something.' He said, 'No I'm going to run to Checkers,'" said Jones.

That was their last conversation.

Jones said the shooting robbed the community of a good man, and Sheree Newman, of her father.

"He loved me and somebody, for nothing, took my father from me," she said.

Police have not established a motive.

They told Willis that the victim was able to provide a partial description of the shooter to the first responding officer.

Stanley Jones, Newman's brother-in-law, said he hopes that someone will come forward with the clue that police need. He said another relative was shot and killed on Campbellton Road several years ago, and he's desperate to keep that from happening again.

"Give the Police Department as much support as you can to find out what happened to Harry," said Stanley Jones. "It could be your child that just goes to get a burger and never returns home again."

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WSBTV