The mother of a University of Southern Mississippi football player found shot to death in his car this week said the player called every day after practice to ask how he was and had no enemies.
Adrian Jackson said in an interview Thursday that she didn't know why someone would kill her son, Marcus Daniels Jr., a naturally athletic 21-year-old who friends and family called MJ after basketball great Michael Jordan.
Police in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, said they have not identified a suspect in Tuesday night's murder, but Jackson said detectives have told her they found nothing suspicious on the suspect's cellphone.
“The main thing I want to know is why they killed my son,” Jackson said. “They took my brother and my best friend.”
Daniels, a four-star recruit who majored in criminology and played as a defensive back for the Golden Eagles, was found unresponsive inside his 2023 Dodge Challenger parked at the Ivy Row apartment complex where he lived.
Jackson said police told him the gun was fired from the back of Daniels' car, entering through the back window and shooting Daniels.
Police did not release any other details.
“He didn't have any enemies,” said Jackson, who has three other children. “The only time he got mad was when he missed an interception on the field or got tackled.”
In his only season with the team, Daniels recorded a team-high 29 tackles and three interceptions, the university said in a statement.
Daniels, a native of Lucedale, Mississippi, played at the University of Mississippi before transferring to USM and was a standout athlete at George County High School, according to the school.
As the investigation continues, Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker called on the public to come forward with any information about the shooting.
“This is a terrible situation,” Barker wrote on Facebook. “Do not remain silent. This is your community. If you know something, please speak up.”
Jackson said she learned of Daniels' death from a close friend and tracked his cellphone's location to his apartment, about 45 minutes from her George County home.
She said she was beside herself when she arrived at the scene.
“When I saw his car, my motherly instinct was to pick him up and take him home, but the police stopped me,” Jackson said. “I blacked out. My world just kind of ended.”
Jackson said his son played football, baseball and basketball as a child.
“He was the type of guy that you handed him the ball and he went right for it,” Jackson said. “He was his own competitor.”
Daniels loved the outdoors and was an avid fisherman, his mother said, and he wanted to become a federal game warden and work in fish and wildlife monitoring.
“My dad would spend hours on the river catching fish,” Jackson said, “and he loved duck and deer hunting. He didn't know how to relax.”
Jackson said she will miss her son coming home on the weekends, greeting him with hugs and saying “I love you.”
“We were close,” she says, “and there was nothing he wouldn't tell me.”
