Ex-NFL draft prospect stalked, executed man at Mississippi Coast casino, authorities say
Jereme Lamond Jones, a former University of South Alabama wide receiver and one-time NFL draft prospect, “stalked and chased” a Gulfport father of three through a crowd at a Mississippi casino and executed the man, according to Harrison County prosecutors.
Video surveillance from Golden Nugget casino captured the Sept. 18, 2021, killing of the father and well-known Gulfport barber, Randy Johnson, 41.
Jones, also a former coach and student at McGill-Toolen Catholic School in Alabama, is on trial this week for first-degree murder in Circuit Court in Biloxi for the killing.
Assistant District Attorney George Huffman and District Attorney Crosby Parker are prosecuting the case and pointed out early on that video footage captured the execution and events surrounding it.
“This defendant ... chased Randy Johnson .. and shot him 10 times in the middle of the casino floor,” Huffman said during opening arguments this week. “He shot him in the back. He shot him in the face. He shot him in the torso, and as Randy laid on the ground, with his arms up, the defendant shot him in the arms and in the hands.”
On the first day of the trial, prosecutors played video footage of the crime.
In the footage, Jones is seen repeatedly shooting Johnson at close range as casino patrons run for safety, with some getting on the floor and hiding behind gaming tables for protection.
After he’s shot multiple times, Johnson puts his arms up and over his chest in a last-ditch appeal to get Jones to stop shooting. Jones kept firing his gun until the clip emptied.
After that, Jones turns around and stomps on Johnson’s face, the footage shows
Prosecutors claim Jones acted with premeditation when he sought out and killed Johnson. Jones says the crime was not premeditated.
Jones and Johnson did not know one another prior to that.
“A man in heels’
Johnson and a friend, Tamara Willis, went to Golden Nugget casino the morning of the shooting to celebrate her birthday. The two were friends and had no romantic ties.
The pair sat on a couch in the casino lounge and had been there for over an hour when Jones walked into the bar around 12:30 a.m.
Jones, dressed in a white shirt and pants with a ball cap turned backward on his head, went to the casino with a cousin, allegedly to pick a friend up there.
When Jones arrived, he and his cousin went to the same lounge. Jones hung out in the lounge for a while, the surveillance shows, then walked around the casino floor a few times before returning to the bar.
After he got back to the bar, Jones kept looking over at Johnson and Willis and eventually walked over to them.
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,’” and then asked her friend if he “wanted to take it outside.”
A fight, a gun and an execution
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.
Testimony in the trial is continuing. Check back with SunHerald.com for updates.
