A 16-year-old faces charges after allegedly firing a gel blaster gun at six-year-old Khalani Ogleetree during a DoorDash delivery in Locust Grove, specifically in the Eagle’s Brook subdivision. The girl’s family is calling for further charges against others involved in the incident.
Khalani was outside on her scooter Saturday when a DoorDash driver arrived to deliver a pizza to her neighbor’s house. She recalled, “They called me a loser and they said bad words to me.”
Neighbor Nick Patel witnessed the event from across the street. “These guys, I don’t know what they’re doing. She’s just looking at them, so I think they’re making fun of her, laughing at her or something,” Nick Patel told WSB-TV.
Patel told Channel 2’s Candace McCowan that there were four people inside a white car, as seen on a Ring camera video. After delivering the pizza, one of them got back in the car, and shortly afterward, Patel heard Khalani crying and saw her running toward her mom.
“She runs for the door like something happened,” Patel said. “They zoom off, make a roundabout, and go past here blowing through stop signs.” Khalani’s mother, Shaterica Ellis, was initially unsure of what had happened. “She was crying so bad. I didn’t really know what the problem was at first,” Ellis said.
Henry County police tracked down the car involved and charged a 16-year-old with simple battery. The teen was later released to his mother.
McCowan reached out to DoorDash, which clarified, “To be clear – this individual was not a Dasher, and we have deactivated the account that was wrongly used.”
The motive behind the attack remains unclear. Ellis expressed disbelief over the incident, saying, “I just can’t believe they would do that to a six-year-old child.” As for Khalani, her mother says she is still shaken and becomes anxious whenever she sees a white car.