Community hopes 8-year-old’s legacy can bring change

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Friends and family are mourning the loss of Arbrie Anthony.

“She was so sweet ... so, so very sweet, and I will miss her dearly. It won’t be the same without her,” said Juanita Roberts, cooking teacher of the the 8-year-old who was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Roberts works at the Dogwood Terrace Boys and Girls Club where Arbrie took cooking classes.

Known to so many as Brie, the girl is being remembered as an energetic child whose life was cut short Saturday night.

“She was just like a little angel,” Roberts said.

Roberts says her heart was broken when she heard the news.

“I was just devastated. The tears were uncontrollable,” she said.

Roberts says Arbrie loved to bake cupcakes and that she was just as sweet as the cupcakes she made.

“After you decorate it, you can eat it, and she didn’t want to eat hers. She wanted to take it home to her dad. That is one thing I remember is she loved her dad,” said Roberts. “We colored it and she got to make it for her dad, and she took it to her dad.”

People in the community call Arbrie’s shooting senseless.

“That could’ve been anybody’s child,” said Garian Henry, an outraged resident.

“That’s the first homicide of 2022, and that never should have happened,” she said.

Neighbors like Henry are pushing for justice and for people not to live in fear but to tell the truth.

“Somebody saw something and need to say something,” said Henry. “But justice is coming for her. It’s going to come, and God saw you.”

Roberts said: “I just pray we get justice for her.”

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