Amanda Jenkins was making tacos for her four children when her oldest, Jaylin, asked if he could run to the neighborhood store to grab a Coke to go with his dinner.
It was something the 16-year-old boy did often, and he was always immediately back home.
“He does it all the time, there and back,’’ said his mother, Amanda Jenkins.
That wasn’t the case Tuesday night.
“Four minutes went by, and his dad said, ‘Something’s not right,’’’ Amanda said.
His father, Jessie Jenkins, called Jaylin’s cell phone.
“Jaylin answered the phone and said, ‘Someone’s chasing me and shooting me,’’ Amanda said.
Jessie ran out of the house and made it to his son, whose car had come to a stop in someone’s front yard on Jackson Street in Birmingham’s Inglenook community.
“He (Jessie) held the wound on his neck,’’ Amanda said. “He called me and said, ‘Get here now, please.’’’
Amanda didn’t have a car, so she ran five blocks to get to Jaylin.
“I got to him before the police or the ambulance or anyone got to him,’’ she said. “And he was gone.”
“I just held him and prayed,’’ she said.
Birmingham police officers responded to Jackson Street shortly before 8:30 p.m. Jaylin was pronounced dead on the scene at 8:40 p.m.
Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said the preliminary investigation indicates the victim asked his parents if he could go to the neighborhood convenience store.
“While at the store, a verbal altercation ensued,’’ Wade said. “The victim did get back inside his vehicle and attempted to leave the location.”
Jaylin was shot as he drove away, becoming Birmingham’s 37th homicide this year.
Birmingham police were in Inglenook for much of Wednesday, and announced Wednesday evening that a juvenile was in the city jail on a 48-hour hold pending formal charges.
Friends of the family have launched a GoFundMe to help with Jaylin’s funeral.
Jaylin was the oldest of Amanda and Jessie’s children. He doted on his younger siblings – an 11-year-old sister and two brothers, ages 6 and 5 – and they adored him.
Jaylin’s father traveled for work so several years ago, Amanda and Jessie decided to homeschool all of the children so they could be together as a family.
“We came home this year, and they were finishing up homeschooling and then going back to public school next year,’’ she said.
Before being homeschooled, Jaylin last attended Clay-Chalkville.
“He did great in school,’’ Amanda said.
Friends gathered at the Jenkins home Wednesday night to support the family, and they said everybody loved Jaylin, and described him as quiet and respectful.
“He was very sweet, very genuine,’’ Amanda said. “He was very hard-working.”
“He went to the store to get a drink and was murdered on the way out,’’ said family friend Heidi Robertson, who started the GoFundMe. “He was the sweetest child and did not deserve this.”
Jaylin, friends and family said, was a stay-at-home kind of kid. He went to the store to get a Coke, or he went to the skating rink with his best friend. Otherwise, he was at home playing Fortnite.
He loved to take apart and put back together machinery – like dirt bikes.
“He wasn’t really interested in driving,’’ Amanda said. “He hung out with me and siblings.”
Amanda said she could see him having a future in IT work because he was so good with computers.
“He was so smart,’’ she said.
Jaylin’s death has been devastating to the close-knit family.
“Last night, I didn’t sleep. I just waited for him to come home, and he didn’t,’’ Amanda said. “This morning, I woke up and I looked, and he wasn’t here and now I’m understanding it’s not a dream.”
“He was,’’ she said, “just too good for this earth.”
Donations to the GoFundMe for Jaylin can be made here.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
