According to prosecutors, a Georgia woman on her way to a store with her boyfriend and 2-year-old son was killed in a hail of bullets after a group of local gangbangers allegedly mistook the car she was riding in for one of their rivals.
Ne’Jha Cox’s unharmed child was forced to watch her 21-year-old mother take her last dying breaths before passing away at the scene, according to Atlanta Police and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, which announced the conviction of shooter Jamal Baker, 24, this week, nearly a year to the day he was arrested for the 2024 shooting in the 1400 block of Hollywood Road.
“The child was there the whole time, and he was able to observe his mother bleed out until she was no longer alive,” said Amanda Green, assistant district attorney for the DA’s gang unit, in an interview with local ABC affiliate WSB.
“She has absolutely nothing to do with gang violence or gang life,” District Attorney Fani Willis told the outlet. “She’s not a criminal.”
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Baker, who was 23 at the time, was with two other people when the shooting occurred and was captured on surveillance video opening fire on Cox’s vehicle. A jury found him guilty of murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm while committing a felony, and second-degree cruelty to children, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 65 years.
“When that vehicle passes, it is shot up, and we have 39 casings,” Green said, referring to the number of times Baker and his alleged cohorts fired on Cox. “It’s no joke when a 2-year-old watches their 21-year-old mother die,” Willis informed us.
A second suspect, Cartez Harvey, who was 19 at the time, was arrested last year and charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm while committing a felony, and second-degree child cruelty. A third defendant was apprehended and charged; he and Harvey will go on trial later this month.
