Jamarcus McIntyre usually did it up big on his birthday.

The outgoing Birmingham man would have a few drinks and celebrate with his friends and family.

Those who loved McIntyre had to do it for him, and without him, this year.

McIntyre, a father of two who would have turned 33 on Wednesday, was gunned down Sept. 22, 2024, during a robbery of his backpack.

Accused mass killer Damien McDaniel and five others are charged with capital murder in McIntyre’s killing.

“When he died, I died,’’ said his mother, Ada Jones McIntyre. “He was my baby.”

Friends and family held a balloon release and dinner Wednesday at the home Jamarcus shared with his mother.

“He would have celebrated, so that’s what we’re going to do,’’ Ada said.

McIntyre died in a hail of gunfire that Sunday night in the 700 block of 81st Place South.

The deadly shooting happened less than 24 hours after the Five Points South mass shooting.

Along with McDaniel, Crishawn Ja’mel McLemore-Bruce, a 23 of Pleasant Grove man, Larry Rollins, 32; Ny’Quan Lollar, 22; Demarco Beck Jr., 29; and Zachary Holmes, 31, are also charged.

Jefferson County prosecutors contend in court documents that McDaniel and Lollar were among three shooters who opened fire on McIntyre in the horrific ambush that was captured on home surveillance video.

Investigators have not yet been able to identify the third shooter.

McIntyre’s killing was caught on chilling home surveillance video and showed gunmen killing McIntyre and stealing his backpack.

Authorities say the suspects waited roughly two hours outside the residence until McIntyre was gunned down.

Text messages from the suspect’s phones showed multiple, and simultaneous, conversations were taking place in the hours leading up to McIntyre’s slaying.

It was just before 9:30 p.m. when the city’s gunfire detection system – Shot Spotter – alerted officers to shots fired in the South East Lake community. Shot Spotter registered at least 30 rounds fired, and there were multiple evidence markers placed in the middle of 81st Place South.

Once on the scene, they found McIntyre unresponsive on the sidewalk. Two others were also wounded, including a woman who, too, was found unresponsive but survived.

Both the surviving gunshots victims, one of whom is Ada’s grandson, attended Wednesday’s balloon release.

“He was my baby. He was sweet. He was Jamarcus,’’ Ada said.

McIntyre left behind a 13-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old boy.

“He loved his family and his children,’’ Ada said.

Two months before his death, McIntyre had pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and was given probation.

He had been working to turn things around, his family said.

“He changed his life around and got closer to God,’’ Ada said. “He had really turned his life over to God and we were doing family stuff, going out to dinner.”

“We did a lot of stuff together that we didn’t do before,’’ she said.

That extra time family in the months leading up to his death were a gift.

“I think God let him out of jail so we could spend more time and bond before this happened,’’ Ada said.

Ada said she watched the brutal home surveillance video of the killing.

“It was over-violent,’’ she said. “From what I saw, they just stood over him and shot him and shot him.”

“I hate I watched it, but I wanted closure. I watched the video to make sure he didn’t suffer,’’ Ada said. “They dragged him like a rag doll.”

She said she doesn’t yet know why her son was killed.

“I ask myself all the time,’’ she said. “I don’t know what was in the backpack but that’s what they were after.”

Two of the suspects – Holmes and Beck – were cousins of the McIntyre family. The shooting happened at Holmes’ house.

“For them to do something like that to him was very hurtful,’’ Ada said. “We (the suspects’ families) haven’t talked since.

Ada said she plans to be at every court proceeding to make sure justice is served. “I’m going to make sure they pay,’’ she said.

Wednesday was an especially tough day for Ada.

“I’ve cried all day,’’ she said. “But he loved life, and I wanted to celebrate his life.”

Asked about a future without McIntyre, who was the youngest of Ada’s three children, Ad said, “I don’t even see a future. Every day I wake up to him not here. When I pass by his room, that’s the hardest thing. “

She said some good has come out of Jamarcus’s death – she believes evidence in that case led to charges against McDaniel and others in other cases.

“I hate my son had to die for them to catch him,” she said, “but I look at it as he brought closure to other families, and I’m happy for them that they got closure.”