Murder charge levied against man who allegedly hit man with brick, stabbed another

A man is facing murder and assault charges after officials say he hit a man in the head with a cinder block and then stabbed another man to death near an Edge District brewery.

Antwon Freeman is being held without bond at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar after Memphis police arrested him Monday evening. He is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault.

While in custody, Freeman, 32, told Memphis police he was walking down Monroe Avenue when someone he did not know threw a rock at him and yelled racial slurs at him.

"[Freeman] stated he never saw the person, but they drove a white truck," the affidavit read. "As he continued to walk, he observed a male and female walking towards him. He stated he thought the male was the person from the white truck."

It was at this point that police say Freeman grabbed a cinderblock and hit the other man with a brick and ran away.

The couple, who were not named in the affidavit, were driving through Memphis and decided to stop at High Cotton Brewing Company when Freeman allegedly hit the man "unprovoked," according to the police narrative.

As Freeman ran east along Monroe, military veteran and recent retiree Phillip Godwin chased after him into a construction site. Godwin and another man, only identified in the affidavit as R. Freeman, got into a car to follow Freeman.

When the duo saw him run into a vacant building, Godwin went in after him. R. Freeman waited outside to flag down Memphis police officers, the affidavit said.

Officers from the Memphis Police Department said they saw Freeman leaving the building and arrested him after R. Freeman identified him as the person who hit the man with the brick. Officers also said they noticed Freeman's hands were "covered in blood."

"While taking the suspect into custody, [officers] were told by the suspect he had a knife under his shirt," the affidavit said. "A long kitchen knife was taken off the suspect's person."

After arresting Freeman, the officers returned to the scene at High Cotton to finish up their investigation. Godwin had not returned from the building, though, and it was not until his wife asked officers where her husband was that they returned to the vacant buildings to check for Godwin.

He was found unresponsive and "suffering from what appeared to be several stab wounds." The Memphis Fire Department arrived and pronounced Godwin dead at 5:13 p.m. that evening.

In his statement to police, Freeman said he was trying to hide when he ran into the vacant building.

"While attempting to hide, he heard footsteps coming towards him, so he began stabbing the person," the affidavit said. "Then he blacked out."

Freeman is being held without bond and will next appear in court Friday.

Not Freeman's first interaction with the Memphis Police Department

Monday evening's alleged assault was not Freeman's first time on MPD's radar. Court records show charges dating back to 2015 ranging from vandalism to attempting to solicit a minor.

In early 2015, Freeman was arrested after trying to pay someone he believed to be a 16-year-old girl for sex. When he arrived at the agreed location, he was met by MPD's vice unit — who was in the midst of an investigation into human trafficking — and ran.

He was arrested after a brief chase and eventually sentenced to three years in prison, plus probation.

Five years later, Freeman was charged with assault after breaking into his grandmother's home in September 2020. When the grandmother returned home, and asked Freeman to leave, he pushed her down and tried to choke her. The grandmother would later tell police she had been choked by Freeman before.

Who was Phillip Godwin?

Godwin was 61 years old when he was killed. Born in Memphis in 1961, he is a Harding Academy and University of Memphis graduate.

After graduating, he served in the U.S. Army as a captain before spending numerous years with the State Department. He recently retired from that role, according to his obituary.

"Phil made friends easily, whether being with his buddies at the Edge and Downtown or his wonderful neighbors in Rossville, Tennessee and Palatka, Florida," the obituary read. " Phil has always been 'everyone's best friend.' He was a man of great faith...a man of great service to his country, and a man that was fearlessly devoted to his family. He was a man that confronted evil, wherever he saw it, and did so until his final breath."

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Man faces murder and assault charges in alleged Edge District stabbing