Two people are in custody for a deadly shooting that occurred in Liberty Eylau Sunday afternoon.
A black male juvenile and 20-year-old Christopher Cross have been arrested for Capital Murder.
Shortly after 2:30 pm on December 22, 2019 Bowie County Deputies were dispatched to 39 Riverbend for shots fired. Upon their arrival they found the victim, Amilleon Kalaan Jackson, deceased in the parking lot of this apartment complex.
Deputies spoke with witnesses who informed them the victim had been talking to a juvenile (arrested) near a gray Dodge Charger right before they heard gunshots. When they looked up, they saw the juvenile firing a handgun at the victim. The witnesses then saw the victim fall in the parking lot and they went to render aid. However, it was too late as the victim had succumbed to his injuries.
Deputies also spoke with the victim’s family members who said that the victim was meeting the juvenile to sell him marijuana. They knew the person the victim was meeting by a nickname and it was later determined this person was the juvenile that was arrested. It was determined that the juvenile was driven to the scene of this homicide by Christopher Cross in his gray Dodge Charger.
Bowie County investigators processed the crime scene and recovered multiple casings indicating the firearm used was a 9-millimeter. While following up on leads, investigators were forwarded some text messages from the juvenile in which he had admitted to shooting the victim. During the early morning hours of December 23, 2019 investigators were out diligently looking for Christopher Cross and the juvenile.
While speaking with a family member of Cross, he agreed to meet investigators at the Bi-State Justice Center at their urging. Cross confessed to driving the juvenile to 39 Riverbend to rob the victim of his marijuana. He also saw the juvenile with the handgun used in this murder right before the victim was shot.
When the gunshots started, Cross fled the scene and hid his car to avoid detection by law enforcement. He claimed he did not know where the juvenile was or went after the shooting. Later in the morning, the juvenile was brought to the Bi-State Building by his mother. Despite the mounting evidence against him, he denied even being at the scene of this homicide.
Both the juvenile and Christopher Oneal Cross were arrested for Capital Murder. The juvenile was turned over to the juvenile authorities and Cross was booked into the Bi-State Jail. Bond was set for Cross at $1,000,000.
The Bowie County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Liberty-Eylau ISD Police Department, the Liberty-Eylau Volunteer Fire Department, the Texarkana Texas Police Department and the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department all of whom assisted the Sheriff’s Office during this investigation.
