An Alabama man accused of gunning down a 28-year-old mother, her 5-year-old son, and her boyfriend last July as they sat in her car appeared in court Thursday and was ordered bound over to a grand jury.
Prosecutors told the Jefferson County Court that Arkia “Kia” Berry sent out a text as she was dying with a single word: “Jaco,” which they believe identified Jacorian Deshawn McGregor, 25, as the gunman, AL.com reportedh.
Berry, her son Landyn Brooks, and 28-year-old Eric Ashley Jr. were found shot to death on July 13, 2024 in a blue Nissan Maxima at the entrance of Echo Highlands Park in Birmingham, homicide Det. Jarvelius Tolliver told the court. They had responded to a call just after 5 p.m. about an accident.
Police found the three victims dead inside the vehicle, which appeared to have jumped the curb and was riddled with bullet holes.
Berry was driving, Tolliver said, and was found between the front and back seats of the car, stretched over the center console. Ashley was in the passenger seat, and the boy was in the back seat behind Berry, whose last text with the name “Jaco” went out at 5:10 p.m.
Tolliver told the court that police found 20-30 shell casings nearby. The passenger side of the vehicle took the bulk of the gunfire, he said.
Surveillance video from a nearby home showed the Nissan arriving just after a lime green Kia Soul, which then left the neighborhood at a high rate of speed. No other cars left the area after that. A lime green Kia Soul was found the next day on fire.
Detectives traced the VIN number on the Kia to a woman who said the car had been stolen a few days before, but she did not report it stolen. They also found phone calls and text messages between Ashley and someone listed as “Jaco” and Jac.”
In those messages, Tolliver said, Ashley and McGregor apparently set up a meeting, but the texts didn’t have a time.
“I believe they had talked on the phone,” he said.
The phone numbers for “Jaco” and “Jac” matched with numbers McGregor had given to other people. And, Tolliver said, McGregor and A
Phone records also showed that Ashley and McGregor’s phones were both pinging off the same cell phone tower in the area of the shooting that afternoon.
McGregor was ultimately arrested and charged in the shooting in February. Detectives found that messages on teh day of the shooting had been deleted from his phone, but other conversations after the shooting included people warning him to “lay low, stay out of sight, stay hidden,” Tolliver said.
McGregor’s attorney argued in court that there was only circumstantial evidence linking his client with the murders, but the judge ordered him held without bond and sent the case to the grand jury.
