Jaqueline Rash is seeking answers and justice after her 15-year-old son, Cornelius “CJ” McGee, was shot and killed by a former Clarksdale, Mississippi, police officer. The tragic incident occurred on May 22 near the 1200 block of West Second Street in Clarksdale. CJ had visited the home of Andrew Bankhead, a former police officer, who became enraged upon discovering his daughter was dating CJ.
According to WREG, Rash revealed that she received very little information from the police and had to rely on eyewitness accounts to understand what happened to her son. Rash, having just returned from work, heard four gunshots and assumed CJ was at home. However, she received a text from one of CJ’s friends who lived next door to Bankhead, informing her that her son was lying dead in the backyard.
When she arrived at the scene, she was denied access to her son and received no confirmation from the police. “I’m telling him that the little boy who lived there just called me and told me that my baby was in the backyard, dead, and they still wouldn’t let me go back there and see him. They wouldn’t tell me that it was him.
They wouldn’t tell me anything. They were like, ‘We can’t tell you nothin’ right now,'” Rash recounted to Action 5 News. Rash learned from the neighbor that Bankhead had shot CJ twice as he attempted to flee the premises. The neighbor claimed that CJ had already left Bankhead’s yard when he was shot in the leg while climbing over a fence, and then again in the back. Rash questioned why her son was shot in the back when he was no longer a threat.
No arrests have been made thus far, and Bankhead alleged that CJ broke into his house, resulting in him shooting in self-defense. Rash expressed her frustration with the lack of information and assistance from law enforcement, stating that the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was supposed to visit her home to provide answers but had not shown up as scheduled.
Rash believes that her son was targeted and killed because he was dating Bankhead’s daughter, contradicting the burglary claim made by Bankhead. She emphasized that her son posed no threat and weighed only 116 pounds.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case, but Bankhead has not yet been charged with any crime. “We just want answers, and we want justice,” Rash pleaded, seeking closure and accountability for her son’s tragic death.
