Left inset: Jamal Baker (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Ne’Jha Cox (RW Andrews Mortuary). Background: Police at the scene of Ne’Jha Cox’s shooting death in Atlanta, Ga., on May 18, 2024 (Atlanta News First).
A Georgia woman on the way to a store with her boyfriend and 2-year-old son was killed in a hail of bullets — a victim of mistaken identity, according to prosecutors — after a group of local gangbangers allegedly mistook the car she was riding in for a rival’s.
Ne’Jha Cox’s little one, who was unharmed, was forced to watch her 21-year-old mother take her last dying breaths before she died 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 almost a year to the day that 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 individuals during the shooting and was caught on surveillance video opening fire on Cox’s vehicle. He was convicted by a jury of murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and second-degree cruelty to children, and sentenced to life without parole plus 65 years.
“When that vehicle passes … it is shot up and we have 39 casings,” Green said, noting the number of times Baker and his alleged cohorts fired at Cox. “It’s no joke when a 2-year-old watches their 21-year-old mother die,” Willis added.
A second suspect, Cartez Harvey, who was 19 at the time, was arrested last year and also charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and second-degree cruelty to children. A third defendant was also apprehended and charged; he and Harvey go on trial later this month.
