Little Jamayla Marlowe loved to dress up, often carrying a purse, wearing pink lip gloss and sporting colorful beads in her long, black hair.
She preferred juice with her favorite meal: her great granny s mac and cheese with a side of turnip greens.
She liked a bottle of milk at night before bed. Her mother said her daughter would tell her she didn t care how old she was. My babies were in the car putting their jackets on, grabbing their juice, the girl s 25-year-old mother, Anyetta Marlowe, said. We never got to get out the car. As we were parking, shots went off and my baby was killed in the backseat.
Thomas L. Winston Jr. (also known as Thomas L. Mitchell) was arrested Thursday in connection to Monday s slaying of 3-year-old Jamayla Marlowe in the Cumberland View public housing development. Jamayla’s 2-year-old half-sister was also wounded in the shootout.
According to an investigation led by Homicide Unit Detective Madison Meiss, Winston, arrived in the public housing development off 25th Avenue North in a blue Hyundai Elantra as a large group of people had gathered in a parking lot.
Winston walked in between two buildings, police said, and shots were then fired from that direction across the parking lot.
At least three other people shot back and Winston retreated to the Hyundai, dropped a bloody pistol on the pavement, and fled the area, police said.