An alleged member of a St. Louis gang charged in the 2020 shooting of an 8-year-old girl in Atlanta pleaded guilty Wednesday, avoiding a jury trial that was scheduled to begin next week.

Jerrion McKinney, 28, took a loaded rifle to a makeshift blockade set up near the burned-down Atlanta Wendy’s where Secoriea Turner was shot five years ago, but prosecutors said he did not kill her.

McKinney entered Alford pleas to aggravated assault, gang and weapons charges and was given a 40-year sentence with 20 to serve. He will get credit for time he’s already spent in jail.

McKinney lived in the Atlanta area at the time of the killing, but he previously resided in the St. Louis area.

Turner was killed July 4, 2020, when the Jeep she and her mother were riding in drove past the armed group set up

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