ATLANTA — (UPDATE: 11Alive has learned the charges in this case against both Imani Spears and Joshua Fleetwood were dismissed in November 2023, with a judge ruling both acted in self-defense after LaKevia Jackson was the first person to fire shots. In accordance with 11Alive's station mugshot policy, the mugshot of Spears that accompanied this story has been removed. A story on the dismissal is available here.)
Original story below
The family of a woman who was shot and killed in a dispute allegedly over a bowling ball shared their heartache over her loss and anger over the circumstances that led to her death, as well as their relief that the second individual involved was arrested this week.
Speaking to 11Alive's Tracey Amick Peer, the sister of LaKevia Jackson said she was the family's "backbone."
"We lost somebody that was somebody special. That was LaKevia Jackson, she was a little bitty person but had this big personality," the sister, Yaesha Jackson, said. "She was the one who did everything for me, my kids, my mom, her son. Like she was our backbone. So they took a lot from us."
Yaesha and her mother reacted Thursday to news of the second arrest in the case, of a 24-year-old woman named Imani Spears. A 25-year-old man, Joshua Fleetwood, is accused of shooting Jackson at the Metro Fun Center in southwest Atlanta last month and was first arrested in the case.
The case has drawn significant attention in part because Jackson shared a son with rapper Young Thug.
Speaking to 11Alive, Yaesha described the circumstances that led to her sister's death at the bowling alley and shared her struggle with the loss of someone she said was like her best friend.
According to Yaesha, the night of the shooting, she and LaKevia were with a group bowling that included several children. She said she was playing well with a particular bowling ball, and went over to retrieve it when it happened to feed back out to another lane.
She claims that lane was where Fleetwood and Spears had begun bowling, and that her coming over to get her ball got them "talking crazy" and instigating an argument.
After that, she said, Fleetwood and Spears waited for the group outside. She said he even came back in several times to see if they were done bowling yet.
When they finally did leave, she said, they were still waiting outside, and he began shooting at the group - including the children.
"You waited. You waited 'til we came out that door. You waited for some women with kids," she said. "You scarred those kids, because we can't sleep. All we see is that same scene of my sister laying there breathless."
She said that when Fleetwood and Spears drove off, they continued shooting. And, she said, they were laughing.
"They laughed at us. They laughed," she said. "They laughed while my sister was on that ground and that wasn't funny. It hurts. Nothing is funny. Y'all just took a life."
She described Fleetwood as a "monster" who could not have a heart.
"He's senseless. He's trying to put out in front of a female and you're not even caring about those kids. Because one of those bullets could have hit those kids, then what?" she said. "You would have killed a child."
She said Young Thug, who has not to date commented on the killing, was "hurting."
"Her child is hurting, his family is hurting, our family is hurting. Everybody is hurting," she said. "That was somebody that meant a lot to everybody."
Yaesha said she was visiting LaKevia's gravesite when she received news of the second arrest. She said that brought her "so much peace" but that the loss is still incredibly difficult to process.
"That's my sister. This is something new to me, I miss her. To see my mom hurt, to see my kids asking about her, her son hurting - he's only 14. That's not fair for a child not to be able to have his mom," she said. "It's not fair."