Suspect charged with killing Atlanta ‘water boy’ over $10 pleads guilty

ATLANTA — A suspect accused of shooting and killing another teen over $10 as they were selling water pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office says Terrell Anderson agreed to a plea on three counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in the death of Jalanni Pless.

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Anderson, who was 16 at the time, shot and killed Pless off 8th Street on June 27, 2020, at a loading dock by a midtown apartment complex.

Investigators said the two got into an argument after Pless made a $10 sale at the interstate entrance ramp by 10th Street. Anderson left and returned with a gun.

Video obtained by the prosecutors showed Anderson chasing after Pless and shooting him twice, killing the teen.

­“Over $10? Can you comprehend that? No, I don’t understand because he offered the young man half of the $10. But instead of him taking five, he took my baby’s life,” Tomeka Pless previously told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden.

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Anderson ran to the Midtown MARTA Station and took a train to Five Points Station to escape. He later turned himself in on murder charges.

He pleaded guilty to lesser charges, on which a judge sentenced him to 35 years in prison with 30 years to serve.

“Mr. Anderson made a grave mistake by resorting to deadly violence at the young age of 16, but his troubled upbringing warranted consideration,” Fulton DA Fani Willis said. “The victim’s family did not want to go to trial, and we strived to balance accountability and justice with this plea.”

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