Prosecutor: Mobile woman shot teenage son while he was sleeping

By Brendan Kirby

Click here for updates on this story

    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — Prosecutors said Thursday they believe a 13-year-old shooting victim was asleep in his bedroom when the mother fired her gun.

The revelation came as a judge denied bond for the defendant, 53-year-old Glenda Marie Agee.

Initially, Mobile police reported that Agee shot Ja’mil Autry in the back. But Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Lauren Walsh said investigators now believe the gunshot came from the front, striking him in the right chest. She said it occurred while the child was in bed in the home on Jones Lane in the Plateau community and that it appears he was asleep at the time.

“We believe so,” she said outside the courtroom. “We haven’t confirmed that, but the evidence indicates that he would have been sleeping at the time.”

Agee faces one count of reckless murder. Although it carries the same penalty as intentional murder, Walsh said the distinction is that it does not require prosecutors to prove that the defendant was trying to kill the boy.

“So the standard is extreme indifference to human life,” she said. “And this is an ongoing investigation, so I don’t want to say too much about it at this time. But we have uncovered some information about this defendant’s pattern and practice of how she uses firearms, and given that information, we find this to be reckless murder.”

That aligns with what neighbors have told FOX10 News about hearing frequent gunfire form the house. Citing a previous pending criminal case, a judge Thursday denied bail for the woman accused of fatally shooting her 13-year-old son.

Agee has a long arrest history dating to the 1990s. Mobile police have said they responded to her address 34 times in the past two years.

Agee was on bond at the time of shooting from an incident that occurred on Jan. 2. Prosecutors allege that she led Prichard police on a chase that resulted in injuries to one of the officers. That prompted a second-degree assault charge, along with reckless endangerment.

Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Jessica Catlett noted that prosecutors are seeking to revoke the defendant’s bond in that case based on the new arrest.

“This being her own son, your honor, she has no value of life,” Catlett said.

Agee will make her next court appearance on the murder charge on Tuesday, when she also is scheduled to respond to the prosecution’s request that her bond be revoked in assault case.

On Wednesday, at a vigil for Ja’mil, family members said they believe the shooting was an accident.

Walsh said police still have a lot of work to do, including piecing together the precise sequence of events leading up the shooting and trying to answer the biggest puzzle of all – how could a mother shoot her own son.

“We’re still investigating all of that at this time,” she said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.