COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) -- Columbus Police described a chaotic crime scene and bizarre 34-hour manhunt during a Thursday morning court hearing for a man accused of killing his 4-year-old son.
Jacquese Antwan Walker did not appear in court, waiving his right through an attorney. But that did not stop Columbus Police Sgt. Amanda McKelvey from describing in great detail how Jacquese Antwan Walker Jr., and the boy’s mother were shot during a domestic dispute.
Police say the two had been fighting for hours.
“According to witnesses, apparently she was leaving him, and this is what started the argument,” McKelvey.
The sergeant then described the chaos police found at the Liberty Commons apartment complex on North Lumpkin Road.
“It was a very chaotic scene,” McKelvey told Recorder’s Court Judge David Ranieri. “They got a call that there was an accident that a woman had possibly been hit by a car. They got a call that a female was shot. And they also got a call that a child was deceased."
Police say Walker shot the mother of his three children and the woman he had been in a 17-year relationship with. That happened inside the apartment.
A witness told police he saw Walker follow the woman out of the apartment. She was on her knees, according to court testimony, and Walker hovered over her.
“He was saying, ‘You did this. Why did you do this? Almost mocking her in a crying manner,” McKelvey testified. “At some point she was able to escape him and run down the stairs.”
The woman, shot in the stomach, was able to make it 200 yards to the office. She left a trail of blood in her wake.
A witness asked the woman who shot her, according to police testimony.
“She said my baby daddy. He asked who is that? She said Jacquese Walker,” McKelvey testified.
Police found the 4-year-old dead inside the apartment. He had been shot in the head.
As Walker left the scene in a Chevy Malibu, he crashed into a vehicle being driven by one of the property managers. That woman suffered minor injuries, according to police.
A few minutes later, Walker was involved in a two-vehicle, head-on collision on Morris Road and Mulberry Drive.
“It was described that the driver was erratically driving with the steering wheel and that he hit another car head-on,” McKelvey said.
The driver of the Malibu matched the description of the man who had just fled the murder scene. He was able to leave that accident scene and elude authorities despite a manhunt.
Police later determined he was hiding in a vacant home.
The suspect resurfaced the next morning, Tuesday, Sept. 19.
He approached a woman having car trouble near Armor Road, police say.
“He was basically carrying on a normal conversation with her,” McKelvey said. “He said, ‘I have been with my, I think he stated woman, for the past 17 years. We’re having some issues. I just need a ride.’”
That woman with the broken down car became suspicious when she saw what looked like a knife in the man’s pocket. He took the knife out and threw it on the ground. The woman then showed the suspect a Facebook photo and confronted him about the possibility he was wanted for murder. He ran away.
The police manhunt refocused on that area.
Later in the day, he was spotted in the Lakebottom area where the manhunt intensified with a multiple law enforcement agency search before he was captured by authorities just after 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“One of our officers saw him, and said, ‘I think that’s him,’” McKelvey told the court. “We got several officers in the area.”
The officer was then able to positively identify Walker, who was now wearing clothes they believed were stolen from a house break-in. Walker fought police, according to court testimony.
“He was Tazed,” McKelvey said. “When they lifted him off the ground he stated – and I quote it is on body camera -- ‘I did shoot my wife on purpose. I did not shoot my son. I did not mean to shoot my son, correction.”
Officers say Walker continued his combativeness in the interview room at the Public Safety Building.
“He is wanting to fight,” McKelvey said. “Especially after he was struck by an officer, he was calling that officer out wanting to fight more.”
Walker did cooperate with police during the interview after he was read his Miranda Rights.
“He stated, your honor, and I quote and I apologize for the lauguage, ‘I did a sh---- thing to my family. And I just want to do what's right and tell the truth. … He stated 100 percent that he did not intend to shoot his son and kill him. But he did mean to shoot his wife.”
Walker was ordered held in the Muscogee County Jail without bond on the murder charge. The case was bound over to Superior Court.
The woman Walker shot was being treated at Piedmont Columbus Regional. McKelvey told the court she was released from the ICU Thursday morning and police planned to interview her.
District Attorney Stacey Jackson was asked if this qualified as a death penalty case. He said it was too early in the process to determine that.
“We are just in the probable cause, arrest, preliminary hearing phase,” Jackson said. “When you are dealing with cases such as this, there is much to be vetted. There’s a lot that plays a part in that.”
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