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Tavares Jackson, 26, is charged with murder in the shooting death of 22-year-old Shuterica Lipscomb.

(Homewood Police/Contributed by family)

The boyfriend of a young mother shot to death in her Homewood apartment earlier this week has been formally charged in her slaying.

Homewood police today announced the murder charge against 26-year-old Tavares Jackson. He is accused in Monday's fatal shooting of 22-year-old Shuterica Shuntavious Lipscomb.

Lipscomb died Monday at the VA Hospital in Birmingham after authorities and family say she was shot at home and then dropped off at the medical facility.

The shooting happened sometime around midday Monday, but authorities aren't sure of the exact time. Family said Jackson dropped his wounded girlfriend and one of her friends off at the door of the VA Medical Center, and then fled in Lipscomb's car. The plan was to stabilize her and then transport her to UAB Hospital, but her condition worsened and she was pronounced dead there at 1:58 p.m. She was shot in the side under her rib cage.

Lipscomb lived at Overlook at Homewood apartments on Valley Ridge Drive, where the shooting happened. Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute. Homewood police spokesman Sgt. John Carr said Wednesday that Jackson is being transferred from the Homewood City Jail to the Jefferson County Jail without bond.

Lipscomb's family said the Evergreen native worked at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, which was a dream come true for her. "It was just something she always wanted to do,'' said her aunt, Sandra Thomas. "She really enjoyed it."

Lipscomb had a 2-year-old daughter and a 7-month-old daughter; she shared the younger child with Jackson. The girls, Thomas said, were staying with relatives in Evergreen and weren't at the apartment when the shooting happened.

It wasn't immediately clear what prompted Monday's gunfire, but family said there were hints that not all was well in the relationship. "She wanted him to leave, but she didn't know how to tell him,'' Thomas said. "From what I understand, he was jealous and controlling."

Still, her aunt said, they didn't expect it to come to this. "No one saw this coming,'' Thomas said. "She kept things to herself."

Thomas described Lipscomb as bubbly and outgoing. "She was beautiful inside and out. She just enjoyed life,'' she said. "She was a beautiful soul."

The family is taking Lipscomb's death hard. "Her mom just wants justice for her daughter and wants people to wise up and look at the signs of when things aren't going well,'' Thomas said. "Don't take the abuse. If they hit you, or even act like they're going to hit you, it's time to go. We don't want this to happen to anyone else."