A teacher in Georgia is facing murder charges after two children were killed in what officials are calling gang retaliation.
Tatiyana Coates, 11, and her brother, Daveon Coates, 15, were killed in 2016 in DeKalb County.
A sketch of a man seen at the scene of the crime, drawn by a forensic artist, helped Clayton police officers identity Michael De'Sean White, 26, who works as a school teacher at Toney Elementary School.
“The details, as far as the sketch and the photo, are incredibly similar,” Daniel said. The sketch and White’s booking photo are side-by-side at the top of the article.
Daniel said it appears that White had at least one accomplice.
The teacher has been removed from Toney Elementary School until an investigation is complete. He began teaching at the school in August 2017.
“There is nothing glamorous about being in a gang,” Police Chief Mike Register said after the killings.
“What happened to that 11-year-old and that 15-year-old that morning—you can call yourself whatever you want, but the cold, hard facts are you are a punk and a coward and a murderer to go in and do what you did.”
A shootout that broke out in the city reportedly involved the teenager, according to police in Chattanooga. A gun recovered from that shootout was treated as evidence in the Georgia killings.
