September Twenty-Third

By Vickie Griffin and Sameale Sorrells

This is a tragic story from the hearts of the family of Shatikey and Demiya Griffin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984570451

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Copyright © 2019 by Vickie Griffin and Sameale Sorrells.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 12/04/2018

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Contents

The Griffin Family’s Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Chapter One … The Best and Worst 24 Hours of My Life

Chapter Two … Tikey Hid Him for a While

Chapter Three … Sweet Hello - Sad Goodbye

Chapter Four … Gonna make You Proud

Chapter Five … Welcome to the Family, Bro

Chapter Six … Tikey

Chapter Seven … This Fool

Chapter Eight … Auntie

Chapter Nine … The Daughter I Never Birthed

Chapter Ten … The Day That Changed Us All

Chapter Eleven … He Got to Go

Chapter Twelve … September 23rd

Chapter Thirteen … A Father’s Pain

Chapter Fourteen … Only Thirteen

Chapter Fifteen … My Memories

Chapter Sixteen … Remembering at Ten

Chapter Seventeen … Like a Big Sister

Chapter Eighteen … DeMiya Griffin’s Actual Journal Entry

Chapter Nineteen … How are they Now

The Griffin Family’s Dedication

This is dedicated to our brother, uncle and father –VANCE (Ven) SORRELLS.

Your charismatic and humorous personality impacted us all…

Warming our hearts; Making us laugh when no one else could.

You were the support we needed through this very difficult and trying time.

You suffered with us but, still managed to make those times better for us.

We love you so much! Never thought we would say goodbye so soon.

But God knows…

Though you’re gone - you are truly missed and ALWAYS REMEMBERED!

-2016

Acknowledgments

We would like to take a moment to thank some amazing people that helped us through this journey in some capacity or another.

Duwon (Mooly) Robinson – Thank you for being our right hand man during this horrific storm. Whenever or whatever we needed. You were humbly there to help; speaking on our behalf when our hearts were too broken to utter words.

Carrie Williams – Because of your experience in journalism, you put pen to paper like we never could. Thank you for placing us before great men.

KIPP WAYS Academy – You have warmed our hearts many times over; Keeping DeMiya’s (Miya) name at the fore fronts of your hearts; Then and now.

Dr. Dwight Ho San – Thanks for going that extra mile; showing us how much she meant to the KIPP WAYS family not just as a student but as family.

Benjamin Elijah Mays High School – Thank you for holding DeArious up during that very difficult time – you showed him he wasn’t just a student, but that you had his back whenever he needed you.

Special thanks to band director William Ervin. It was all under your very fine leadership. You guys were truly his shoulder to lean on!

Special Thanks –

To Mrs. Kenisha Barron – We cannot thank you enough! You went over and beyond what we could have imaged! You told us what the reader wanted; spending countless hours editing and working tirelessly to help give this project a voice.

You were super amazing!

Foreword

I think I stopped watching the nightly local news sometime during the summer of 2012. It was just too depressing. Elderly Man Shot by Intruder; 18 Month Old Dies after Being Locked in Hot Car for 6 Hours; Woman Brutally Raped in Department Store Parking Lot…..Day in and day out, just sitting helplessly listening to the tragedies that others had endured. I needed a break. That ‘break’ turned into months of being fairly oblivious to the chaos going on around me in Atlanta and its surrounding communities. I’ll admit; it was nothing short of perfect peace. I didn’t have to witness pure evil in its many forms every night before I closed my eyes. Most importantly, I didn’t have to lie there and wonder when the wheels would turn in my direction and that evil would affect me or someone I cared about.

My blissful ignorance ended abruptly towards the end of September 2012. I was sitting at work and my friend, Shelbe, crossed my mind. Just out of the blue. I picked up my phone and sent her a Hey! How are ya’ll doing text and went back to whatever I had been working on expecting her to send her usual We’re fine. Planning to go to _____ That blank could be filled in with any activity that involved family; a nephew’s football game, an uncle’s birthday celebration, a family skate night at Cascade Family Skate…you name it. This was the Griffin Way. You never saw just one Griffin. They were always together. Always. So when Shelbe responded Just so sad, I wasn’t sure what to say other than Why. Her response was, Tikey and Miya dead. I knew she wouldn’t joke about something like that so I immediately picked up the phone and called her. She proceeded to tell me many of the details of Tikey and Miya’s last 24 hours of life that you will read in this book. All I could say over and over was I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I was sorry that I didn’t know, I was sorry that I wasn’t there for her and her family, I was sorry that Tikey and Miya had been terrified in the last moments of their lives, I was just so sorry. I remember Shelbe telling me that she forgot I didn’t watch the news and that her mom had asked about me because she said she knew I would be there if I knew what happened. If memory serves me correctly, they were holding a vigil for Tikey and Miya at Frederick Douglas High School that evening and I promised Shelbe I would be there. I hung up the phone and immediately threw up in the trash can by my desk. I pulled up Google on my computer and searched ‘Tikey and DeMiya Griffin murder’ and heartbreaking images of Shelbe, Demp, Mrs. Vickie, Dee and Mr. Thad were suddenly plastered all over the screen. The pure terror, devastation and hopelessness I saw on their faces sent my stomach into convulsions again. I honestly don’t remember how I got home that day but I do remember hugging my daughter and my husband and just wailing for hours.

My grandmother had a beautiful antique teapot in her china cabinet. It was white with blue and purple painted flowers dispersed on a dark green vine that encircled the entire pot. There was something about it that always caught my eye. It was almost regal. Somehow it fell out of the cabinet one day and broke into about 5 pieces.

My grandmother used super glue to piece it back together and returned it to its spot in the china cabinet. From a distance the teapot looked the same as it did before it was shattered and I’m pretty certain that it still worked. But when you got up close to it you could see the cracks. You could see the places where it was pieced back together. You could clearly see the places where small pieces were still missing. But somehow the strength of the rest of the pieces held the entire teapot together. When I think about the Griffin family, I’m reminded of that teapot. This tragedy has left them broken; shattered, torn apart from the seams, some of them will never be quite the same. But then, God. Their faith in God and their love for one another has pushed them to heal and put themselves back together. Three precious pieces are missing (Tikey, Miya, and Mr. Thad) but, like my grandmother’s teapot, the other pieces are strong enough to hold the family unit together. They lean on each other and when one is weak the others are strong. Also, I know that anyone who knows them will agree that the ‘super glue’ that holds this family together is Mrs. Vickie. She is nothing short of amazing. You would think that someone with her type of strength would have to be at least 50 feet tall with a loud boisterous voice and a demeanor that would make even the strongest man shiver in his boots. But she is just the opposite. Mrs. Vickie has a quiet strength and a loving spirit that can only be an extension of God’s love and strength. There is really no other explanation. People are not ‘built’ like Mrs. Vickie. They are divinely chosen, they are groomed and they are sent here to