Posted on 05/03/2012 7:30:57 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
The mother of a 13-year-old boy fatally shot when police say he tried to rob a couple said she is in shock that her son is dead -- and even more so at the circumstances surrounding his death.
"I don't want it put out like he was a bad person or a mean person, because he wasn't," Latonya Walker, 38, said Tuesday. "This is not him, not who he was. Anybody that knew Ja'Quares knows that."
Birmingham police said Ja'Quares Cortez Walker was in a car that pulled into the parking lot of the gated Skyview Condominiums at 407 Skyview Drive shortly after 11 p.m. Friday. The condo is off Robert Jemison Drive in southwest Birmingham.
Wearing a gray shirt around his face like a bandana and armed with a loaded and cocked pistol, authorities said Ja'Quares approached a black Lexus SUV with a couple inside and ordered the driver out. The driver pulled a gun and shot Ja'Quares multiple times.
The driver's name has not been released.
Police officials on Tuesday said the case remains under investigation. Once their probe is complete, they will present their findings to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office to determine whether charges will be filed.
District Attorney Brandon Falls said he has been told that police will present the case to him no later than Thursday.
Police released no information on the Friday incident until late Monday, until then saying only that an "unclassified shooting death" had occurred.
Police Chief A.C. Roper on Tuesday said police are still investigating.
"We questioned all the people we needed to question in relation to the incident," he said.
Police still are looking for the people who were accompanying Ja'Quares on Friday night, "but no one has been arrested," said Sgt. Johnny Williams Jr., spokesman for the Birmingham Police Department.
The shooter, Williams said, talked to investigators at the scene, and he voluntarily went to the Birmingham Police headquarters.
Latonya Walker said her son, who school officials confirmed was the quarterback on the football team at Martha Gaskins Middle School, was home about 9 p.m. Friday. She said he was visiting with two of his friends and one of his brothers in the front yard of the east Birmingham home where Ja'Quares lived with his parents, two brothers and a sister.
A red Chevrolet Trail Blazer pulled up to the group of young men. Latonya Walker said she yelled out to her son and asked who was in the car. He replied that it was one of his friends and the friend's uncle, and then got in the vehicle with them.
"Mom, we're just going to the store, and we'll be right back," his mother recalled him saying. It wasn't long, she said, before she began to worry. She said she called everyone she could think of, but had no success finding her son. She said he did not have a cellphone.
"It's not like him to go anywhere and not tell me," she said.
After several hours, Latonya Walker said she called Birmingham police and reported her son missing. She said she paced the house throughout the night, and still no word came.
"It was a real rough day," she said. "I knew something wasn't right."
It wasn't until about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, she said, that a Birmingham police detective called her and asked her if she had reported her son missing.
When she said yes, he asked her to meet him and look at a photo of a youth shot to death the previous night.
Police have said they were not able to identify Ja'Quares until Saturday.
Latonya Walker said the account of her son's death doesn't make sense to her. "He got fussed at like all kids do, but he was a real respectful child," she said. "Every day was a happy day for us."
She said she just wants to know the truth.
"Even if he did this, someone had to put him up to it. Why else would 16- and 17-year-olds want to hang out with a 13-year-old boy?" she said. "It's not the way he was raised."
She said her heart is heavy, and she's still not sure everything has hit her yet.
"It's like he's still here, and I feel him holding me up," she said. "All I can do is pray, and know God was ready to take his angel."
What I don't get is that apostrophe that's used in many of these bizarre names. What missing letter(s) in the name is that apostrophe supposed to represent?
Sounds like the perfect place, but unless you are wearing a skirt that would not be concealed, right? (Hey, what do I know - maybe you are a female!)
..the guy in the suv has time to pull his .45 out from between the seat...
Thinking of all the vehicles and .45s I have owned, I cannot imagine keeping one between the seats unless it was in a holster and even then it would likely shift positions. Seems like it would take at least 2-3 seconds to get a firm grip and get it pointed out the door even if it was where it should be (didn't shift around). Not that I have a better idea when driving except maybe something like a hammerless revolver in a jacket pocket.
I see that some people think so. I would have to have a combination of bad attitude, bad behavior and thug-inspired wardrobe before I formed some kind of negative opinion. I do pre-judge that such attempts at creating exotic names points to an ethnic culture. Then again, if someone named Apple or Kelp shows up, I suspect white parents trying hard to be earth-friendly. But that’s just me.
“crap was supposed to be rap. lol
You say potatoe I say potato!
The holster is mounted under the dash off my right knee. I can pull it out while turning to leave the vehicle. The perp doesn’t see it until there are at least two slugs in his belly.
Another technique that works is as you leave the vehicle, shove yourself against the inside of the door, with the gun between you and the inside door panel. Turn and fire. He may even pull you in that direction.
By the time he’s in the car, he’s got slugs in his kidney. Follow up with head shots, or he may get a round off. Two at least. Call 911. Make sure your weapon is on the ground between your feet and your hands are palms out away from your hips so that LEO’s can see that you aren’t armed. Don’t put your hands over your head - you look like the perp.
Insist on an attorney. Don’t answer ANY questions, but do that as respectfully as you can. This idea that they are going to let you go right there because you were defending yourself from a carjacker is wishful thinking. A homicide has been committed and you need to defend yourself from the State at this point.
It’s not the ‘Justice System’, it’s the ‘Advocacy System’. Nobody gets justice, and you are punished according to your ability to defend yourself in court. It must be looked at this way. Justice is an occasional byproduct.
Either way works. Smaller guns are better (.22’s and 9mm) because you can shoot from the hip faster, more confidently, and generally more accurately than with the .40 or 10mm. Revolvers are no good for this application.
Great post. As I live in Thailand (thus the moniker ‘expat’) much is not appropriate for me - the laws are very different here, but great advice for US residents.
Yep! It will be another Trayvon Martin case! Unless the robbery victims were black, of course.
Hahahahaha! Good one!
Cheers!
“Older gang bangers use younger gang bangers all the time to commit crimes.”
I’ve heard this, too.
The older gang bangers don’t do the dirty work,
They get an under age kid to do it so the charge will be mitigated because of youthfulness of the kid, while if the older guy did the crime, the penalty would be much greater.
“That’s probably true. Most states have some kind of felony murder statute which allows for a murder charge if a death is caused in the commission of a felony, even if it was one of the criminals who dies.”
Also, does an aide and abetting a felony come into play, on top of the felony charge?
“I wonder where I can go and easily find statistics showing death rates of black youths from broken single parent homes verses black youths from traditional two parent families?”
Someone is going to have to help me on this.
Who is the writer from Chicago who wrote about gun ownership/lower crime. He probably has stats and references; I just can’t recall his name or the name of the book.
The author and title of his book is so important I can’t remember either!
D’oh!
“Does anyone know if this is his mom?”
Oh, sweet and dear Lord.
Society is crumbling. Help us, Lord.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
“I’ll never understand why parents give their kids names that make any potential future employer (other than the stinking government, of course) roll their eyes.”
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-D) thought only white names were being used to name hurricanes and wanted black names included, like:
Hurricane Ja’Quares.
“There are wiggas, spiggas, and even jiggas.”
I swear to you - what do these names mean.
One of my dog’s name is Mr. Wiggles, he is 10 lbs of badass. Happens to be black.
He starts mix-ups with our other dog who is twice as large as Mr. Wiggles. He happens to be silver white. I have to break up the fights (water sprayer) because it always looks like Mr. Wiggles is so small he could get hurt.
Just a little info about our dogs.
Paradox, I know our Wiggles but what the heck are “wiggas, spiggas, and even jiggas?
TIA!
hummingbird
Sometimes the “Mother and Dad” are very young themselves and haven't a clue as to how to raise a child - a child that ends up in gangs & thuggery and prisons. Maybe “parents” weren't even parented well.
When you have generations of thuggery, what can anyone expect...
Thanks in part to LBJ and his Great Society. But, the spiraling crime rate has ratcheted up since LBJ. Worse now, I expect.
I haven’t seen hate crime come up. Guess it only works certain ways...
“Rip to my yung azz killa field boy luh tez g sosofairfield”
“T.I.P Luh Tez G on BOS we gone hold a tru soulja down no matter wat 25-UNO-11 Frat Bruh gone but never forgotten”
“T.I.P FieldBoy ‘’Luh Tez G’’ Gone But Not Forgotten See U When I Make It Home......... R.I.P Soulja Boy Tez G (Sent via GO SMS)”
What the heck...I can't make out some (most) of the words, much less the meaning. I'm always taken aback when I hear a black person from England speak. It sounds educated, people friendly, and so on to my ear even when they may be thugs, too.
I hold the Ebonics movement partly responsible for this. Why do a bunch of American blacks speak the way they do.
One of the priests at my church is Ugandan. I could listen to his voice forever - it is so kind and so comforting. He does not see color at our church and, with our teachings, neither do the congregants. We love him!
What is T.I.P.?
“Also, ‘T.I.P.’ is slang for ‘Thug In Peace’.”
I asked that very question further down the thread.
Thanks,
hummingbird
“Beware of those who would disregard the law.”
Thought for a moment I was on an Obama thread! /s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.