A Columbus man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2022 death of a teenager.
Tommy Lee Flowers, 29, was sentenced to life plus 80 years in prison Thursday afternoon after a Lowndes County Circuit Court jury found him guilty of felony murder; three counts of aggravated assault; directing a juvenile to commit a felony; and shooting into a dwelling.
Judge Jim Kitchens sentenced Flowers to life for the murder charge; 20 years each for the aggravated assault charges; and 10 years each for directing a juvenile to commit a felony and shooting into a dwelling.
Flowers was accused of leading Harvey Montrell Johnson, 15, to his death while attempting to retaliate for what District Attorney Scott Colom characterized as a “street beef.”
“In February 2021, there was a shooting in Columbus where Tommy Flowers and several others were shot,” Colom said during a press conference Friday in the courthouse. “Instead of cooperating with law enforcement, he refused to give any names and decided to take the law into his own hands.”
Flowers tried to get revenge on April 24, 2022, when he and Johnson opened fire into a house where three people were sleeping, Colom said.
“(Flowers) got Johnson drunk and used drugs all day with him, then gave him a gun and took him to do a retaliatory shooting against the people he believed shot him,” Colom said. “He took it into his own hands, and because of that he led Harvey Johnson to the bullet that killed him.”
Colom said the case was complex and unusual, and “everything had to go right” in the investigation to lead to a conviction.
“For example, when (Columbus Police Department) first got the call out they’re told it’s a car accident,” Colom said. “Once they find out there were gunshots, they connect that to another callout 0.2 miles away on Poplar Street. If they don’t make that connection, that could have resulted in our not solving this case.”
Investigator Chris Ware “saved the case,” Colom said.
“When they initially interviewed (Flowers) they think he’s only a witness,” Colom said. “He claims he was only in the car, claims he doesn’t have any information into who shot. … (Ware) got a gunshot residue test, and that proved he had residue on his hands.”
The shooters inside the house, who actually killed Johnson, were not charged because they were defending themselves under Mississippi’s Castle Doctrine, Colom said. They were not injured in the attack.
‘Books, not bullets’
“This is a unique prosecution in that we’re hopefully establishing the precedent of accomplice liability,” Colom said. “Our theory was never that (Flowers) pulled the trigger, but that he led Harvey Johnson to his death.”
Colom said he wanted criminals to understand the risks they were running.
“It’s very important that all these people out here know if they take the law into their own hands that they’re risking going to prison for a very long time,” Colom said. “And if you dare to have a juvenile with you, we’re going to be aggressive in prosecuting you. You need to be leading juveniles to books, not bullets.”
Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said he wants citizens to understand that solving a case like this one is a long-term process.
“It’s not like television, where things happen in 30 minutes,” Daughtry said. “It takes time to build these cases, and I applaud the work the DA’s office has done. We work together to make sure victims’ families have closure in this city.”
Daughtry warned criminals to stop misleading young people.
“A lot of our young people are told, ‘You’re a juvenile, nothing will happen to you,’” Daughtry said. “That’s not true.”
Defense attorney Josh Clemons did not return a Dispatch phone call seeking comment by press time.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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