Jackson Free Press

Jason Murphy and Albert "A.J." Barber Jr. were best friends. The boys went to different high schools—16-year-old Murphy to Murrah, 17-year-old Barber to Lanier—but the pair was inseparable, always hanging out at each other's houses.

"A.J. was more than a family member. He was a friend. He was a comedian. He could walk into a room and make whoever (was) in that room smile," said Barber's cousin, Xavius Levy.

Murphy's cousin, Cherry Abron, described her little cousin as a lifelong honor student who liked playing basketball with kids in his neighborhood.

"My cousin was a very respectful young man," Abron said. "He was a child. He did what children do."

Murphy and Barber's bond followed them to the end of their lives. Early on the morning of Sunday, July 21, a neighbor found both young men's bodies in a ditch in Jackson's Virden Addition neighborhood, each shot in the back.

On Thursday evening, more than 300 people from the neighborhood, including Murphy's and Barber's families as well as community leaders, gathered near Walton Elementary School to celebrate the short lives of both young men and to call on neighbors to help police solve the murders.

"I didn't know them personally, but I wanted to make sure I was here," Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Cedrick Gray said in his remarks.

Levy also urged members of the community with information about the shootings to report what they know to the police.

"We need to break this code of silence when we see something in our neighborhood that we don't desire," he said.

Funeral services for Albert Barber Jr. and Jason Murphy will take place Saturday, July 27. Barber's funeral is 11 a.m. at Cathedral AME Zion Church, located at 428 W. Northside Drive. Murphy's funeral is at Greater Mount Sinai Baptist Church, 1900 Bailey Ave. Both will be interred at Autumn Woods Memorial Gardens.