Officers found him inside, near the cashier’s counter according to a Springfield police report. He was laying on his back with a gunshot wound to his upper right shoulder and another on his back right side. B.J. was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Mandy Jackson is B.J.’s mother and cannot believe her youngest child is dead.
“He was a goofball. He was funny,” Jackson said. “He loved basketball. Very artistic. He loved to rap.”
The teen would have celebrated his 16th birthday at the end of the month, she said.
“I got a phone call from his girlfriend, at the time, screaming and crying hysterically saying B.J. was shot,” Jackson said.
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She went to the gas station and when she got there, she saw an ambulance and crime scene tape.
“I thought it was a pile of clothes with a sheet over it. I didn’t know at the time that it was my son,” Jackson said.
She was immediately handcuffed and put into a police cruiser, Jackson said, because she crossed the crime scene tape. She waited there for about 30 minutes answering questions and claims she wasn’t told during that time that her son had died.
Springfield Police Capt. Michael Varner said he was unaware of what happened at the scene and couldn’t comment on how Jackson was treated.
Springfield police questioned the shooter but he was later released, Varner said. He also declined to identify the shooter.
“The matter is under investigation. We have spoken to the shooter and we’re following up,” Varner said.
At this time, no charges have been filed and it will go before a Clark County grand jury to decide if charges should be filed. Anyone with information is asked to contact Springfield Police at 937-324 7716.
Jackson believes her son was in a fight with the unidentified shooter and that he’s claiming self-defense.
“My son is 15 years-old,” Jackson said. “He was not armed. He did not have a gun.”
Jackson hopes there will be justice soon for her son. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did, she said.
Varner declined to comment on the self-defense allegations.
“Right now, our investigators are working hard to try and find answers to provide to the victim’s family,” Varner said.
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