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."
Does anyone know if this is his mom?
All he needed was a hoodie.
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.
No mention of his father anywhere in the article.
Typical.
Kilt him real good did he??
At the end of the Wiki entry are several case with people on death row for F-M circumstances. Felony murder rule (Texas)
Don't know if it's accurate, though.
Yes, it’s called ‘Capital Murder’ when a person is killed during the commission of a felony of which you were a participant, even if the deceased is one of the partners in the felony.............
You know what I am, is a CULTURALIST. This urban/thug culture is destroying our youth. And note, its not just a "black" thing, its infected all of our youth. There are wiggas, spiggas, and even jiggas. Its sad, I feel awful for the mother.
Because they can. Because they know nothing is going to happen to the. Because it is drummned into their heads from conception until death that they are entitled to the products of others honest labor by the media, self hating White Liberals, and the poverty pimps and politicians make a good living off them. And last but not least, because law abiding Whites allow it.
They could be charged with what is known as felony-murder:
A person who:
(2) kills another human being while committing or attempting to commit arson, burglary, child molesting, consumer product tampering, criminal deviate conduct, kidnapping, rape, robbery, human trafficking, promotion of human trafficking, sexual trafficking of a minor, or carjacking;
commits murder, a felony.
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. Sounds like Mom and Dad and siblings.
Of course with a June of 97 birth date as shown in post 51 he is not 13 but instead 14 and almost 15 (June). I would not let a 13 to 15 year old just take off with anyone that I did not know
I don’t think it makes any difference who killed whom, just that there was a death during the commission of the felony, even if it’s done by the victim, the other participants are guilty of aiding in the killing that would not have happened if they were not there.......
My ebonics isn’t very good but I think it’s pronounced ‘jack-er-ass’ or ‘jack-her-ass.’
“Technically, Im curious exactly how this went down”. It looks like the two that picked him up used him. It looks like he was already a thug in training, but the ones who picked him up probably picked the mark, quite possibly someone they already had a score to settle - the young thug ‘uninformed’ gets sent to a mark who is already on edge hence weapon ready. I’m sure the two adults are congratulating themselves at how they escaped. It’s all speculation but given the situation/circumstances very possible.
Heh. I know someone whose first name is Japanese, she is an un-urban white girl, her mother just thought it was a pretty name, it sure sounds “urban” though. So maybe read a little further than the name..
Hmmm. Looks like a old Ruger auto in stainless. Had one of those once. Traded it as part of a deal for some Ruger Vaqueros that I use in Cowboy Action Shooting and never looked back.
Why? If it was a direct quotation, the reporter should be credited with doing a proper job. If the editor thought it was out of line, he/she could have cut it.
STET!
Mine’s in a holster just off my right knee. The idiot asks you to open the door and get out. You draw the weapon, turn off the safety, and when the door swings open you fire from the hip.
I’s a 9mm, so you have to get off several rounds to make sure the threat has been well and fully put down.
The lovely thing about a carjacking is that it is SOOO much easier explaining to the police why there’s a puddly of worthless genetic material just outside your vehicle here on the street.
Explaining why the guy who broke into your house has holes in him takes an intricately planned out series of steps to ensure that you aren’t the one going to jail.
Why such a thing doesn’t automatically come with thank you notes from the state controller’s office is beyond me.
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