The church has always played a leading role in Atlanta, but in 2013, a crime shocked the entire community: the murder of a member of a super-ministerial dynasty in the wealthy Riverside neighborhood that shook the city and beyond.
The case began with a 911 call just after midnight on May 7, 2013, which reported a shooting at the home of 47-year-old Jerrick Jackson in the affluent Riverside community.
“He was shot in the torso area, multiple shots,” former gang investigator and Fulton County Attorney Richard Randolph said on “The Real Murder in Atlanta,” which aired Sunday at 8:07 p.m. Oxygen Channel airs. Jerick, the younger brother of megachurch pastor Willie Jackson, was taken to hospital.
Police spoke to his fiancée, Kimberly Little, who was with the victim when he drove home in his Porsche. Several men who followed them in vehicles stole valuables they were carrying at gunpoint, she said. The men then entered the upstairs home of Little’s 18-year-old daughter, Anbiya Mitchell. When the intruders tried to go upstairs, Jerick blocked their way and was shot. Little and Mitchell were unable to identify the masked attacker. All they could tell investigators was that at least four black men between the ages of 18 and 24 were wearing hoodies, according to retired Atlanta Police Department homicide detective AB Calhoun.
Investigators collected evidence at the scene including fingerprints and bullet casings. They also alerted Little’s financial institutions to the activity of their stolen credit cards and checks.
Sadly, Jerick passed away in the hospital. “It was like I left my body,” said his brother Rodney Jackson. “I’m there and not there.” News of the crime quickly spread throughout Atlanta due to the family’s notoriety. Jerick’s brother Willie Jackson founded the Gospel Tabernacle Church. “Everyone knows who Bishop Wiley Jackson is,” Maria Boynton, a former news anchor on WYAY Radio, told the producers.
Jerick has kept mum about having a famous sibling, but police believe the connection may have played a role in the crime. Early in the investigation, police received surveillance video showing a woman trying to cash a cheque stolen from Littles at a nearby bank. When police found her, she told them an unidentified man had given her a checkbook. She admitted she had passed inspections in the past, but an alibi for her whereabouts at the time of the murder was confirmed, so she was only booked for identity theft.
Investigators are focusing on Jerick’s community. Security footage from a residential camera showed a black Ford Mustang in the area at the time of the shooting. Detectives searched the stolen vehicle and found a Mustang that had been ambushed by a car a few days earlier.
A witness called at the time to report a young man speeding around an apartment complex near Jerrick Jackson’s home. The caller provided authorities with the apartment where the men got out of the car. A young woman in that apartment denied involvement, but gave them the name of her friend Demetrius Morgan. Investigators learned he was only 16 years old and nicknamed “Meat.” To find him, authorities relied on the media to report the news.
On May 10, Morgan contacted police after seeing news of himself. He denies any involvement in the murder, but admits he went out that night with other young men he knew, including Geno, Tre-Tre and Big Poppa.
Morgan was released, and detectives focused on uncovering the men’s real names and identities. They again used the media to investigate.
Meanwhile, the stolen Black Mustang is located and searched for evidence. Nail clippers were among the items recovered and bagged from the stolen Mustang.
In addition to media coverage of the case, Bishop Willie Jackson also appealed from the pulpit on behalf of his family, Atlanta True Murder reported. Investigators paused between the media and religious leaders to identify those of interest.
“We were actually called by our first names,” Calhoun said. They are Geno Lewis, 19, Montravious Bradley, 17, and Alejandro Pitts, 17.
Two weeks into the case, detectives approached Bradley, who defended himself and refused to speak to them. Lewis hid. Meanwhile, Pitts agreed to talk about his whereabouts on the night of the murder. He said he was with his girlfriend at the time.
Investigators obtained search warrants and focused on the men’s cell phone records to trace their possible crime-related activity.
“At the time of the murder, we received clicks on the cellphones of two suspects,” investigators said. “They were sending signals from the cell tower closest to Jerrick Jackson, so we were in the area at the time.”
In August, Morgan, Lewis, Bradley and Pitt were arrested.
Unlike the other three men who went on to deny involvement, Morgan broke down and recounted what happened the night Jerrick Jackson was shot. He also named a fifth person involved: 19-year-old Felton Lovejoy.
Morgan said they followed Jackson after they got the stolen car because they liked his Porsche. Morgan said he waited in the Mustang while the other four cornered Jerick and Kimberly Little inside. His detailed knowledge makes his statement credible, according to investigators.
“I heard gunshots,” Morgan told police in a taped interview. “I don’t know…who was shot.”
Just before they were ready for trial, DNA evidence found on nails clipped from the stolen vehicle indicated they belonged to Lovejoy and Bradley, Randolph said.
In exchange for his testimony, Pitts agreed to a plea deal with a 25-year non-parole period.
“This is not a walk in the park,” said retired Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Jackson Parker.
Felton Lovejoy and Montravious Bradley pleaded guilty to Jackson’s murder, 11alive.com reported. They were both sentenced to life sentences. In a separate trial, Geno Lewis was sentenced to 25 years in prison for armed robbery.
When Dmitry Morgan, who was convicted of robbery, was about to be sentenced, Bishops Willie Jackson and Rodney Jackson spoke on his behalf, asking for clemency.
“We can’t preach this stuff and talk about it instead of life,” Rodney Jackson said.
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