Jury convicts ex-NFL draft prospect of execution-style murder at MS Coast casino

Margaret Baker
·2 min read
3

Former Alabama wide receiver and NFL draft prospect Jereme Lamond Jones is guilty of first-degree murder and headed to prison for the rest of his life for the execution-style slaying of a man at a Biloxi casino.

A jury in Biloxi deliberated for less than an hour before convicting the 32-year-old Jones in the Sept. 18, 2021, killing of father of three and well-known Gulfport barber Randy Johnson.

Jones is a former University of South Alabama wide receiver, one-time NFL draft prospect and former high school coach who shot and killed Johnson on the gaming floor at the Golden Nugget casino.

District Attorney Crosby Parker and Assistant District Attorney George Huffman prosecuted the case.

The prosecutors called the killing an “execution.”

“Our defendant is chasing an unarmed man who’s running away from him, and he’s trying to tell you it’s self defense,” Parker said in closing arguments. “You wouldn’t buy that story anywhere else in your life. You wouldn’t buy it to work. You wouldn’t buy it at home. Don’t buy it here. It’s ridiculous. “

Video surveillance at the casino captured what happened from the time Jones arrived at the casino until Jones chased Johnson down and shot him 10 times

Johnson and a friend, Tamara Willis, had gone to the casino to celebrate her birthday.

They had been in the casino bar for over an hour before Jones showed up.

They didn’t know Jones, but he kept looking over at them.

Jones eventually walked over and asked Johnson if he wanted “to take it outside.”

Willis testified at the trial. She said she asked Jones what was going on.

He told her, “’I don’t have a problem with you,’” but mentioned that it looked like Johnson was looking over at him like he had ‘heels on.”

The shooting happened shortly after Johnson and Jones walked into the parking garage and started fighting.

Johnson threw the first two punches, the video shows, and Jones fought back.

The fight ended shortly after Johnson grabbed Jones and pulled him toward the ground. The gun and holster Jones was carrying fell out of his waistband onto the floor.

Once Johnson saw the gun, he ran back in the casino, told his friend about the gun, and kept running.

Johnson ran through the casino in and around gaming tables and through the crowds there before he tripped and fell, and Jones caught up with him.

Johnson died on the casino floor.