Young mother dying next to her 5-year-old son texted one word to reveal her killer in final moments, police say

An Alabama mother and her 5-year-old son were killed in a deadly shooting. The woman gave investigators one last hint of the identity of her killer in the final moments of her life, according to police.

Around 5 p.m. on July 13, 2024, police received a 911 call about a car accident in the Echo Highlands neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama.

"She loved her baby so much. Everything he wanted, he had. Everything he needed, he had."

Officers with the Birmingham Police Department responded to the scene and discovered a blue Nissan Maxima that had jumped a curb. The sedan was reportedly riddled with bullet holes. There were allegedly three shooting victims found dead inside the vehicle.

Investigators reportedly found 28-year-old Arkia “Kia” Berry in the driver's seat, her 28-year-old boyfriend, Eric Ashley Jr., in the front passenger seat, and her 5-year-old son, Landyn Brooks, in the back seat on the driver’s side.

Investigators recovered between 20 and 30 shell casings at the crime scene.

During a preliminary hearing on April 17, Birmingham homicide Det. Jarvelius Tolliver testified to a judge that investigators had located evidence found on Berry's cell phone.

Police went months without arresting a suspect. However, investigators discovered the mother's final one-word text message that allegedly directed cops to a suspect.

AL.com reported that Berry texted the word “Jaco” to a friend at 5:09 p.m. on the day of the deadly shooting. "Jaco" is the reported nickname of 25-year-old Jacorrian McGregor.

One of the homes in the neighborhood where the shooting took place had a surveillance camera that captured an image of a lime green Kia Soul at 5:07 p.m.

At 5:08 p.m., the blue Nissan Maxima driven by Berry is seen on video.

At 5:09 p.m., Ashley’s phone made a call to McGregor at the exact same time that Berry texted "Jaco" to a friend.

At 5:10 p.m., the Kia Soul was reportedly caught on camera speeding out of the neighborhood.

Tolliver noted the Nissan Maxima was not seen after that.

Police said the Kia Soul seen in the video was stolen.

The owner of the Kia allegedly told police that the car had been stolen five or six days before the shooting, but she never reported it stolen.

Police found the Kia Soul set on fire after the fatal shooting.

Tolliver said that McGregor and Ashley exchanged text messages earlier in the day that indicated they were planning to meet up.

Officer Tolliver noted that most of the text messages on McGregor's cell phone from the day of the shooting had been deleted.

Tolliver said of McGregor, "But he was having several conversations with people where they were talking about the incident that had taken place, and there were people telling him to lay low, stay out of sight, stay hidden.”

McGregor’s attorney, John Robbins, was asked if there were any witnesses who could connect McGregor to the Kia, and Tolliver replied: “I would say that Miss Berry was a witness. She texted his name right before she died.”

Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald told AL.com last year, "We believe some sort of interaction took place between the occupants of the victims’ vehicle and the suspects’ vehicle."

Jefferson County District Judge William Bell ruled there was enough probable cause to send the case to the grand jury.

McGregor was ordered to remain in the Jefferson County Jail without bond.

Aniya Berry, Arkia's cousin, previously told WVTM-TV that the slain mother and son were like "two peas in a pod."

"She loved her baby so much. Everything he wanted, he had. Everything he needed, he had. She took care of her baby the way she was supposed to," Aniya said.

Officer Fitzgerald stated at the time of the shooting, "Anytime we have a homicide, it affects us. But when you have a child, it affects you differently. In this case, we have a small, school-aged child that got caught up in the violence that’s taking place in our city. We have to ask the question, ‘When is enough going to be enough?'"

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