By John Monk, McClatchy Newspapers –
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jamael “JGood” Goodman posted his intentions on Facebook just hours before he shot his girlfriend to death and then committed suicide.
“Ima set an example for people round here today,” wrote Goodman, 27, Monday morning on his Facebook page.
That posting, via a mobile phone at 9:01 a.m. was just 15 minutes or so after he had driven by the Batesburg-Leesville police department. Inside the building, his longtime girlfriend, Shaquanah Jones-Brannon, 30, was telling a police officer that Goodman had threatened to harm her.
Two-and-a-half hours later, Goodman donned a disguise, walked into the China 1 eatery in Batesburg-Leesville where Shaquanah Jones-Brannon was trying out for a job, and shot her to death in front of customers and employees.
Then he shot and killed himself.
“#Nothing to lose,” is how Goodman signed that last, eerie posting.
Jones-Brannon also had used Facebook, but her most recent postings on the social media were not visible.
Instead, earlier, on her public Facebook pages, she had written some of her life philosophy: “Don’t give up on God because he never gave up on you.” And also: “My children and money is wat makes me happy.”
She also had posted the pictures and names of her five children, ages approximately 3 to 13.
Jones-Brannon was trying out for a permanent post at the Batesburg-Leesville’s China 1 on Main Street, which serves egg rolls, friend wontons and an assortment of Chinese fast food dishes.
“She had only been here 20 minutes” when the shooting happened, said Helen Yang, China 1 manager.
If Jones-Brannon had done well, she would have qualified for a job, Yang said.
“The police told her not to come to work, but we didn’t know that,” Yang said.
On Monday, shortly before 9 a.m., Jones-Brannon went by the Batesburg-Leesville police department to file a domestic violence report with Officer Cynthia Crow, saying Goodman had threatened her, according to an incident report from the department. The two had lived together, according to the report.
As Jones-Brannon talked with Crow, Jones-Brannon said she saw his car drive by the police department, according to the report.
Officers quickly deployed to search for his car at his job and home, but couldn’t find it.
Officers advised her not to go to work, explaining that they could call China 1 and explain the situation, the incident report said.
“The victim declined this officer’s assistance,” the report said.
Police then explained she could be taken to Sistercare, a shelter for abused women, and that she could obtain a restraining order. She refused the offers. The police then escorted Jones-Brannon to a relative’s house and began searching for Goodman.
Unknown to police, Goodman had covered his dreadlocks with a skull cap and switched cars, making the search more difficult. Police posted an officer and car outside China 1 — but minutes before the shooting, that officer was called away.
It wasn’t clear what triggered Monday’s violence.
South Carolina is one of the states that, per capita, has the highest number of men killing women they are in relationships with.
Jones-Brannon would have turned 31 on Friday.
“It sounds like law enforcement did what it could, but I don’t want to make it seem it was the victim’s fault in some way, when she was just probably trying to feed her children,” said Sistercare Executive Director Nancy Barton.
As news of the deaths spread, more than 100 people posted messages on Goodman’s Facebook page.
The comments ranged from someone glad the public doesn’t have to pay to defend the shooter in court to a woman who regretted that five children are left without a mother.
