Kaalynn Jackson’s DeKalb County home had just quieted down after a joyful Easter gathering when a gunshot cut through the stillness of the party’s afterglow.
A roommate heard the loud pop that came from Jackson’s room, where she and Janai Colbert, identified by family as her girlfriend, had just started arguing that Saturday night, according to police. Jackson, 25, made it to their housemate’s bedroom and told him that Colbert had just shot her, court records state.
Jackson died during surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, police said. The special education teacher at Hamilton E. Holmes Elementary School in East Point had been shot once in the chest.
Colbert, 24, faces one count of malice murder and remains in the DeKalb jail without bond. She did not appear to have an attorney as of Friday afternoon.
Crystal Gray told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that her younger sister collapsed into the roommate’s arms as he called police and Jackson’s family, who had just left moments earlier.
He “just screamed that (she’d been shot), and then everything else just happened so fast,” Gray recalled of the phone call. “I hadn’t even made it home from leaving my sister’s house.”
Police arrived at the Derwin Brown Drive home around 10:15 p.m.
The roommate told police that the couple had been arguing about Colbert lying on the floor during the party, investigators noted in the warrant. According to Gray, the man had just helped Jackson get Colbert off the living room floor and into their bedroom when the shooting happened.
The sisters’ entire family had congregated at Jackson’s home earlier that day for a long overdue family reunion. It had been at least a decade since the family was together, so it was a joyous occasion, Gray said.
“Everything was fine. Everyone was great. There wasn’t a single problem ... there was no tension, there was no arguing, there was nothing,” she said.
The family can’t make sense of why or how things escalated to such violence after they left, she said. Police have not disclosed a motive.
According to the warrant, Colbert told police she “didn’t know what happened but that she is the only one who has access to (the) gun and that it would be her fingerprints on the gun.” Investigators also noted that officers’ body cameras recorded Colbert telling them that “‘(Jackson) made me do it.’”
Credit: Photo provided by Crystal Gray
Credit: Photo provided by Crystal Gray
Gray, 30, doesn’t remember much of what happened after getting the frantic call that her sister had been shot.
“I just wanted to panic,” she said. “I only remember asking, ‘Where are they taking her?’ And I just remember being at the hospital after that.”
The sisters were very close and spoke nearly every day. They considered each other best friends and shared matching tattoos — two wine glasses, one with a sun inside for Gray and a moon for Jackson. When the sisters were side by side, the tattoos read, “It’s just us in this world.”
Credit: Photo provided by Crystal Gray
Credit: Photo provided by Crystal Gray
Gray’s 4-year-old daughter is also taking the loss hard, especially after spending the weekend with Jackson. The little girl was excited to celebrate her birthday and prekindergarten graduation with her auntie next month, Gray said.
Jackson was going to take her niece to a museum, and they’d spent the weekend planning a celebration. Instead, the family is planning a funeral.
“All my daughter keeps saying is that ‘She won’t be there for my birthday’ since that’s all they talked about all weekend,” Gray said.
Jackson had her own graduation coming up, too. Gray said her sister would have graduated next week with her master’s in special education from Grand Canyon University.
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