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11Alive Exclusive: Family of slain teenager remembers him on his birthday

Ja'Carlos Jefferies was killed in SW Atlanta just eight days before his 19th birthday.

ATLANTA -- A year goes by and no answers for the family of a murdered teenager.

Today, that teen would have been 20-years-old, watching his two-year-old son grow up.

So, the family of Ja’Carlos Jefferies went back to the spot were he was shot, hoping to remind people, his killer is still out there.

“If it rains, it rains," said Pamela Jones, his grandmother. "We don’t care. We just want to know Boo man, let him know, we're thinking about him, we love him and he will forever be in our hearts.”

Ja’Carlos was 18 when he was shot dead in southwest Atlanta in 2017, eight days before his 19th birthday. He was shot several times outside a food mart at 337 Fletcher Street Southwest. The store is no closed, with a large "under new management sign" posted on the side of the building and teddy bears lining the front stoop.

And a year later, his family still doesn’t know who did it and why.

“He was always my little boo boo, my little Boo man,” said Pamela Jones.

Ja'Carlos left behind a young son. Jones said, “He (her great-grandson) has a picture that he carries with him. He carries it to daycare in his bookbag. He’ll only remember things that we tell him and tidbits because when his daddy was taken from us, he was only a year old.”

Police have a person of interest in the case, described as a black male with a scar under his eye and a teardrop tattoo. Did this person of interest kill Ja'Carlos? Does he know who did?

Until these questions are answered, the family cherishes Ja’Carlos’s son and hope that one day, the person responsible will answer for their crimes.

“You may not get yours here on this earth, but there’s a God that sits high and looks low- and he will get you.”

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