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."
God forbid that common sense be applied.
“Also, ‘T.I.P.’ is slang for ‘Thug In Peace’.”
Thanks. I had no idea. I copied it as it was. I looked at my keyboard and thought he meant R, but hit the T key by mistake.
Wow! There is no way the mom did not know what her kids and their friends were all about. If that’s the deceased son standing next to her in photos...he is much taller than she is. Does not look like an average 13 year old!
Beware of those who would disregard the law.
In the photo at #9 he is flashing a gang sign so he may have already gone through initiation. I guess mom couldn’t make it to his graduation.
Hominid bipeds are divided into two categories: “People” and “Targets”.
Kid on the left is wearing the same hat, i see on other pictures.
Pretty sure this is mom
http://www.facebook.com/#!/latonya.leonardwalker
“Exactly. The foolish mother can’t understand that she pretty much killed her own son when she named him that. It was going to be the penitentiary or the morgue for him, most likely.”
What is most sad is that either the penitentiary or the morgue is a point of pride in the urban thug culture. Any other path is “acting white” and will be derided by their peers.
Special thank you shout out to FDJ. I hope you are proud of your legacy.
Next.
Pls confirm?
Felony murder, I think, in most states at least...
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.
His Dad must be a mute as he has not opined in the matter of the fruit of his loins straying from the straight and narrow path of a law-abiding citizen.
________________________
Good and decent kids from decent families sometimes go bad. They spend some time with a bad crowd and sometimes pull away and other times dont. He made a poor choice and ended up dead with the push of local thugs. His family must be devistated.
Thugdom is celebrated and I can show you a couple of dozen pictures of white kids from good middle class families who a have had equally stupid pictures on FB.
i am all in favor of that, how about letting some write the law that isn't trying to make it totally undecipherable?
Laws are largely written by lawyers, for lawyers.
Ten laws were all God commanded, the people demanded much more. Always a what if.
Okay, maybe it is his sister, since mom has a photo apparently taken around the same time that says “mama kidz”. Nice if that is her younger son giving the finger. She simply cannot claim that she had no idea what was going on. Looking at the pictures of her other children including one named Jasmine, you can plainly see they all have the gang mentality. There are times when I will give the parents a break because sometimes kids do bad things no matter how they are raised. But I will not give this mother a break. She knew exactly what her kids were into.
So ... I guess I'm not the only one to notice that problem.
I was looking at the numbers recently, and we are approaching 1 in 20 citizens with a ccw both here in Ga and in Fl. I have to think AL would be similar. And in ga you don’t have to have a ccw to carry in your car, it is considered an extension of your domicile.
So yes, a reasonable assumption.
There was a music video of a girl about that age talking about getting in the backseat of boys cars. I am surprised it wasn’t a big hit.
ugh
Police say he was in a car that pulled into the parking lot of the complex shortly after 11 p.m. Police say he wore a shirt around his face like a bandanna, approached a vehicle with a gun and ordered the driver out. Authorities say the driver pulled a gun and shot Ja’Quares.
bfl
obviously most of the black population do not hold up cars with guns, but there seems to be such a huge embracing of the violent gang culture among a very large percent of them unfortunately.
Believe me when I tell you that there are another 2 or 3 that are carrying without the permit. I and several of my friends believe that the 2A is our permit. The authorities do not have to give me “permission” to protect myself, my family, and my property.
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