Michigan mother, son sentenced for fatal shooting in restaurant parking lot
A Genesee County mother and her son were sentenced to prison in connection to the March 2022 fatal shooting of a woman in a Flint Township restaurant parking lot.
In February, a jury found Deondre Dawayne McLilly, 25, and his mother, Windy Marie Weatherford, 49, both of Grand Blanc Township, guilty in the shooting death of 20-year-old Alicia Jackson-Skaggs in a Golden Corral parking lot.
McLilly was sentenced Monday to 39.5 to 102 years in prison for shooting and killing Jackson-Skaggs, while Weatherford was sentenced to 33 to 102 years in prison for her role in the shooting.
"I want to commend Judge Mark Latchana for rendering a lengthy prison term that is at the top of the sentencing guidelines," said Genesee County Prosecutor Leyton in a news release. "While nothing can bring Alicia back, today's sentencing brings legal justice to both defendants.
"It was a tragic and senseless act, and I still cannot believe how a mother could have encouraged and aided her son in such a horrific incident."
According to testimony, at around 7:40 p.m. on March 29, 2022, Flint Township police responded to the Golden Corral on Miller Road. When officers arrived, they saw an SUV crashed into the restaurant's road sign and a group of people surrounding the vehicle. Police found a woman, later identified as Jackson-Skaggs, in the front passenger seat, suffering from a gunshot wound to her head, and a male passenger offering help to Jackson-Skaggs.
Witnesses told police that two people had left the scene in a white SUV just before the shooting. Michigan State Police pulled over a vehicle matching that description at Bristol Road and I-75. The driver, Weatherford, was arrested, while the passenger, McLilly, reportedly ran away from the SUV before he was arrested following an "aggressive resistance" near Torrey and Bristol Roads.
Prosecutors say before the shooting, Jackson-Skaggs and the driver of the SUV she was in and another passenger were in a drive-thru lane of a Culver's restaurant on Miller Road when a white SUV pulled up behind them. The three reportedly recognized the occupants of the white SUV and pulled out of the drive-thru line to leave the parking lot. That's when officials say McLilly fired two shots at the vehicle.
McLilly and Weatherford followed the vehicle, allegedly pursuing them at more than 70 miles per hour, before ending up in the Golden Corral parking lot, where multiple shots were fired at the victims' vehicle, causing it to crash into the restaurant sign. Witnesses said the shooter allegedly approached the victims' vehicle and fired more shots before driving away.