PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A Portsmouth man has been sentenced to life without parole after being convicted of fatally shooting a 7-year-old in Atlanta.
Police said Kennedy Maxie was struck by a stray bullet fired by Daquan Reed back in December 2021 while Maxie and her family went Christmas shopping in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood.
Reed had just been robbed, police say, and unintentionally struck Maxie as he fired his pistol in rage.
Reed was arrested two weeks after in Hampton on charges of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm during a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and convicted on all counts.
Reed’s attorney said at his trial earlier this month that he was innocent, and there was no physical evidence that could establish his guilt.
He had previously been convicted of accessory after the fact after a 2019 double shooting at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk.