It was a tradition between a mother and her only son.
For the past 25 years, Queshon Walker and Corey Jackson would embrace with a special handshake, starting with a dap and ending with a snap of their fingers and a point. Walker said the handshake, “Mama’s Boy,” which she taught her son when he was 3 years old, would always start and finish each time they spent together.
On Aug. 31, Walker stared at her 28-year-old child though a small window inside Grady Memorial Hospital, hoping to hold him once more. He had been shot to death hours earlier near his DeKalb County home, police said, shortly after getting off a MARTA bus following a work shift at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
At the hospital, a sheet covered 90% of his lifeless body, including a tattoo with the words “Queshon” written on his chest. Walker felt devastated and numb. But as she broke down and cried, she was unable to touch him due to the ongoing police investigation.
“I wanted to hold him and I couldn’t,” Walker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. “They did not want my handprints to be put on him.”
DeKalb police were called that day around 2:10 a.m. to the 2800 block of Catalina Drive after a passerby found Jackson’s body lying face down in the street and covered in blood, according to an incident report. He had been shot in both thighs and was taken to the hospital, where he died, police said.
Walker said Jackson had just finished a shift at the airport and was found dead shortly after the bus dropped him off a few houses down from his residence, where he lived with his grandfather.
While police have not provided a motive, Walker said she believes Jackson was robbed since several valuables were not found on his body, including his phone, book bag, work clothes, watch, necklace, bracelet and earrings. No suspects have been identified, and Walker said investigators were trying to get footage of the MARTA bus and locate his phone. Jackson took the bus every day to work, she said.
But Walker is still left wondering what happened to her boy, who she said was known for his hard work, smile and singing voice.
Credit: Queshon Walker
Credit: Queshon Walker
“My kids have always been my entire life, my world. You took my son, my only son at that,” Walker said. “He didn’t bother nobody. He never been in trouble. I mean, he was a sweet, kind hearted, you know, humble young man. We’re hurting because we want to know why.”
When Walker closes her eyes now, she can still hear Jackson’s soulful voice, which echoed through Atlanta’s Greater Springfield Baptist Church as they sang gospel songs together in the choir.
Despite living in different homes after he turned 18, they continued to meet each week and spoke on the phone almost every day, especially when wrestling was on television. While sitting on separate couches, Walker and Jackson, who dressed up as Hulk Hogan on Halloween twice, would hold up the phones to their ears and give passionate commentary.
That childlike spirit has always been with Jackson. During family trips to South Georgia each summer, he would jump out of the car and start doing backflips, earning him the nickname “Flipping Corey,” according to his cousin LaDestiny Walker, who described him as her little brother.
“He’s the most vibrant, you know, nicest kid. Well, he’s not a kid anymore,” LaDestiny told the AJC. “I just want him to be remembered as being the jolliest person you will ever meet. One smile will allow him to brighten up your day. His smile never leaves.”
Credit: Queshon Walker
Credit: Queshon Walker
His co-workers were also used to that smile at Hartsfield-Jackson, where he worked for the past decade, including the last 3½ years with Unifi Aviation, an airport contractor. At his funeral Saturday at Springfield Baptist, Queshon Walker said Unifi’s vice president and several co-workers wore his favorite shoe to honor him — Air Jordan.
“Unifi Aviation mourns the loss of one of its employees, Corey Jackson Jr.,” Unifi spokesperson Swetha Sharma said in a statement. “Corey was a valued member of our team at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”
Walker said the family is trying to move forward while seeking justice. But on Saturday, prior to his burial at Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta, there were two final things she had yet to do.
Feeling Jackson was incomplete, Walker worked with the funeral home director to take the top off his casket and place a new watch, bracelet, necklace and earrings on his body. Walker said she felt her son wouldn’t be whole again without having everything he used to love to wear.
She then bent over, moved closer to Jackson’s face, and kissed it several times.
“The only thing I wanted to do was touch him,” Walker said. “I left my lip print on his cheek.”
― AJC staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this article.
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