Inset left: Jaion Barnes (Macomb County Prosecutor's Office). Inset right: Tianna Ross (GoFundMe). Background: The apartment complex where Barnes shot and killed Ross in Clinton Township, Mich. (Google Maps).
A Michigan man is facing decades behind bars for shooting and killing the mother of his child during a custody handoff.
On Thursday, Jaion Barnes, 25, was convicted by a jury of his peers on one count each of murder in the second degree, felony firearm, weapons possession by a felon, and domestic violence.
The underlying incident occurred on Jan. 15, 2024, at the Peachtree Apartments on Weybridge Street in Clinton Township – a northern suburb of Detroit – and took the life of 23-year-old Tianna Ross.
Several days before the shooting, Barnes sent Ross a text message about a prior incident of domestic violence.
"On my son, I will never put my hands on you again," the Jan. 8, 2024, message read.
Earlier this week, a prosecutor needled the defendant for the technically-true promise that ultimately became a distinction without a difference as he later shot the woman repeatedly in broad daylight.
"He didn't put his hands on her, did he?" Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Elizabeth Abbo told the jury, according to a courtroom report by Macomb Daily. "He shot her multiple times. Not once. Not twice. But three times. And as you saw, two were right to her face."
On Wednesday, the state punctuated closing arguments in the case by noting that the dispute over the couple's 2-year-old child led to the mother dying before their son's very eyes.
"It was execution style, quick, fatal, left to die by herself with her crying baby by her side," Abbo went on.
Before Ross arrived at Barnes' apartment, the pair argued about how to exchange the little boy as part of their co-parenting agreement. Ross was on her way to class at cosmetology school and wanted the child's father to pick him up, complaining in a text message about the cost of an Uber ride over to his place: "It's 50 bucks, bro."
Eventually, the mom relented, taking her son in his car seat – along with diapers and milk – into the lobby of the apartment building around 4:30 that day. Then came three blasts of gunfire. Barnes shot Ross once in the stomach and twice in the face and head – right in front of the little boy, still in his car seat, according to the prosecution.
There were no witnesses to the killing itself but Barnes' brother would testify to hearing the shots from the apartment above the foyer.
Jamon Barnes told the jury he saw Ross' body on the floor, his brother nowhere to be found, and went downstairs to pick up the little boy, take him upstairs, and call 911 – describing how the car seat was covered in blood and left red streaks on the walls, testimony showed.
Soon after the shooting, the defendant called his mother and admittedly "hid" the gun, the prosecutor told the jury. During his mother's own testimony, she said her son told her that he and Ross "struggled over the gun and it went off." The defendant's mother said her son was hysterical and discussed hurting himself after the incident.
The state rejected the idea that the shooting was accidental.
"The gun didn't go off by itself," Abbo reportedly said. "All of the evidence supports Tianna was shot, and the intention was to kill her because of how she was shot. There was not a struggle over the gun. Tianna was 118 pounds. Somebody's hand was on that trigger. It wasn't hers. The gun didn't just go off."
The prosecution said the couple's prior history suggested intent.
"Tianna was already fearful of him, very fearful," Abbo went on. "The defendant was violent. You get the understanding of the domestically violent relationship he had created."
On top of their history, Barnes did not like the present, prosecutors argued – saying he wanted Ross back, was jealous of her seeing other people, and did not like the fact that she was planning to drop their child off with him and then immediately leave.
"He was upset when she got there," Abbo continued. "He was upset a week before he got there."
After a six-day trial and a morning's worth of deliberations, the jury sided with the state.
"Today's verdict holds the defendant accountable for the brutal murder of his girlfriend, the mother of his own child," Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a press release. "With the Second-Degree Murder conviction and being a habitual offender, he now faces many years in prison after taking an innocent life and throwing his own life away. This senseless act has left a child without either parent, and our hearts remain with that child and the family who must carry this loss forever."
The defendant faces a mandatory 25-year sentence as a fourth-time habitual offender and a maximum possible sentence of life in prison. He is slated to be sentenced on March 26.
A GoFundMe for Ross' son is still active.
"Tianna was full of life and earned the title 'life of the party,'" the fundraiser reads. "Her smile, laughter, kind heart, and goofiness will forever be missed."