Each of the six men charged with killing 15-year-old Nicholas Jackson had different accounts of how they ended up in Norcross on Feb. 2, when the valedictorian and football star was shot in the heart during an apparent robbery gone awry, police said Friday.
The youngest of the six, 19-year-old Rico West, told Norcross police the men were heading to the Mall of Georgia. Another said they got lost looking for Ga. 400, while two others said they had driven a rental van to Gwinnett to pick up the rest of the group who had encountered car trouble.
Only one, 36-year-old Jason Dozier, acknowledged possible culpability in Jackson’s death, telling detectives they were on the right track as they shared their theory of what led to the break-in at Autry Street, Norcross Police Sgt. Bill Grogan said during a probable cause hearing Friday in Gwinnett County Magistrate Court.
The six suspects were bound over to superior court for trial, though several questions remain. Chief among them: What was the source of nearly $20,000 in cash found in a bag in the suspects minivan minutes after the shooting?
“Why are they doing a home invasion when they have $19,600 in cash on them already?” said defense attorney Dennis Scheib. The victim’s father told police that about $600 to $700 was missing from his son’s room, though he wasn’t even sure if the money had been stolen by the suspects or spent by his son.
Also, investigators still do not know why the six men targeted the Jackson home for robbery.
While prosecutors continue to build their case, they say the six suspects are easily profiled as a robbery crew. When police pulled over the van roughly one-third of a mile from the Jackson home they found two pairs of latex gloves, a roll of duct tape, ski masks and four handguns.
They also say they matched the footprint found on the Jackson’s basement door with the shoes worn by one of the suspects, 32-year-old Anthony Lumpkin.
Investigators still doesn’t know who shot Jackson. But according to Grogan, Dozier may have implicated himself when, after being informed the police were taking gunshot residue tests, he buried his head in his hands and told fellow suspect Timothy Johnson, 34, “That’s it for me, bro.”
Also charged in the case are Eddie Lewis Green, 46, and Michael Davis, 23.
West’s attorney John Petrey said police don’t have enough evidence to convict.
“All you have is mere presence after a crime has been committed,” Petrey said.
There are witnesses, however, including a city of Norcross employee who spotted the suspects parked near the victim’s house before the shooting, police said Friday.
Nick Jackson’s older sister, 17-year-old Nikia, previously told police she saw four men fleeing the home in a van though could identify only one, West, after seeing his mug shot on television.
Nikia Jackson found her brother unconscious in the basement after hearing noises that turned out to be gunshots. He died on the way to the hospital.
A funeral for the teen will be held 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 in 2011.
Among the mourners will be Reggie Barlow, head football coach at Alabama State University, where Jackson hoped to attend.
“We were profoundly struck with grief and anger when we heard what happened to Nicholas Jackson last week at his parent’s home,” Barlow said, “In an attempt to help comfort his family and honor the young man’s wishes of one day playing for us, we decided to make his dream a reality.”
Barlow will present a resolution from the university’s president making Jackson an honorary student and member of the football team, the school announced Friday.
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