In the winter of 2016, a promising young life was tragically cut short on the streets of DeKalb County, Georgia. Sariah Wilcoxson, a 17-year-old African American female with aspirations of attending military school, was fatally shot on the evening of January 11th. She was walking home after accompanying a friend to a MARTA bus stop on Flat Shoals Road when the incident occurred.
A passerby discovered her body on the sidewalk.
The investigation into the senseless act of violence quickly pointed to 29-year-old Deandre Seabrooks. Surveillance footage captured a conversation between Wilcoxson and Seabrooks inside a nearby convenience store just moments before the shooting. Ten days after the fatal shooting, on January 21, 2016, Seabrooks was apprehended in Stockbridge and charged with murder. Authorities believed the shooting was not a random act of violence, but rather an act of retaliation stemming from an ongoing dispute Seabrooks had with Wilcoxson's brother. Her family expressed their shock and grief, stating that Wilcoxson was not involved in any trouble and did not deserve her tragic fate.
Deandre Seabrooks, who had an extensive criminal record, was brought to trial for the murder of Sariah Wilcoxson. During the trial, it was revealed that Seabrooks had used an AK-47 to shoot Wilcoxson. In a further attempt to obstruct justice, prosecutors presented recordings of Seabrooks attempting to bribe a key witness to change their statement to the police. In February 2017, a jury found Deandre Seabrooks guilty of murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional ten years. Following her death, Sariah Wilcoxson's mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners and operators of the housing complex where the shooting occurred, which was settled in 2019.
