A former DeKalb County elementary school teacher has been convicted in connection with the 2016 gang-related shooting deaths of two children.
A jury found Michael White guilty on all charges tied to the deaths of siblings Tatiyana Coates, 11, and Daveon Coates, 15. Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley confirmed the verdict to WSB-TV.
The shooting happened in 2016 at a home on Libby Lane in Clayton County. Investigators said the two children were not involved in gang activity and were not the intended targets.
Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney La’Carrian Blount told WSB-TV that at the time White was a member of the Rolling 20s Crips.
On Oct. 22, 2016, White and other Rolling 20s’ members were reportedly looking for a teenager who had stolen firearms from their storage houses. When the teen was not found at the residence, White allegedly forced entry into the Coates family home in search of Daveon while armed with a shotgun. When White and his co-conspirators entered the home in search of an unnamed 15-year-old, their target had already run away from the house. However, according to reports, six other children, including the two Coates children, were left in the home. Gunfire erupted inside the home, and the two siblings were killed.
White was teaching at Toney Elementary School in DeKalb County at the time of the killings. The former elementary school teacher was arrested at the school 17 months after the crime. The then 26-year-old was identified through a lengthy forensic investigation. Prosecutors identified him in court as a member of the Rolling 20s Crips.
At the time of White’s arrest in 2018, Clayton County Police Maj. Tina Daniel spoke on the bitter irony of a fifth-grade educator killing children.
“It kicks you in the gut that someone who’s responsible for our children on a daily basis could possibly be involved with a heinous crime like this,” Daniel’s told WSB-TV.
Two defendants were convicted in 2023 and sentenced to life in prison without parole, and other defendants resolved charges through negotiated pleas that carried lengthy prison sentences. Those outcomes narrowed the focus to White’s case, which remained unresolved until the jury’s verdict.
White was the final defendant to stand trial in the case. Other individuals charged in connection with the shootings have already been convicted or pleaded guilty.
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