Robbery was the likely motive for a home invasion last week that resulted in the shooting death of a 15-year-old Norcross High School football player, police said Wednesday.
Norcross Police Department said investigators identified robbery as the “preliminary motive” for the incident and that the suspects in the killing targeted the home of Nicholas Jackson II's family on Autry Street as “their intended location.”
A police spokesman declined to say Wednesday why the intruders chose Jackson's residence.
Jackson, who started last fall on Norcross High’s freshman football team and earned a spot on the varsity roster by the end of the season, was shot once in the chest in the Thursday night incident. The youth died later at a local hospital.
Shortly after the shooting, police said they stopped a Dodge van a short distance away, recovered weapons, ski masks, bandanas and an undisclosed amount of money. The six men inside were arrested.
Jason Dozier, 36, Anthony Bernard Lumpkin, 32, Rico Dehaven West, 19, Eddie Lewis Green, 46, Michael Davis, 23, and Timothy Lamar Johnson, 34, have been charged in Jackson’s death.
A visitation for the slain teen is set for 7 p.m. Friday in Donald Trimble Mortuary in Decatur, and a funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Norcross. The church is connected to the Christian school Jackson attended for three years before transferring to Norcross High.
Jackson was the fourth person killed by gunfire in Gwinnett County last week. Three people were killed Jan. 31 in separate incidents in Buford and near Lilburn.
-- Staff writers Mike Morris and Christian Boone contributed to this article.
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