Accused of killing man in front of kids, suspect in Columbus murders faces 1st trial
Tamir Harris had his 2-year-old son at his side and two other young children nearby when Brandon Jarrell Senior walked up and shot him in the head, Columbus police said.
That was on Aug. 22, 2017, two days after Senior gunned down another Columbus man, Nathan Johnson, after calling him to come outside a card game, authorities said.
Nearly four years later, Senior is going to trial, in Harris’ case, as he awaits his day in court in Johnson’s death.
Also known as “Chip,” Senior is 35 now. He was 31 when police charged him with murder in the fatal shootings of Harris, 33, and Johnson, 25.
Jury selection began this week for Senior’s trial before Superior Court Judge Maureen Gottfried. Senior is represented by Columbus defense attorney Anthony Johnson. The prosecutor is Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Schwartz.
In Harris’ case, Senior is charged with murder, aggravated assault, using a gun to commit a crime, and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
His indictment says the latter charge is based on his having a .40-caliber pistol the day Harris was shot, after Senior was convicted May 25, 2016, on a felony drug offense.
‘He walked off’
Officers called to the 3600 block of Fourth Avenue around 10:35 a.m. in August 2017 found Harris mortally wounded. He was pronounced dead there about 30 minutes later.
Detectives said witnesses told them Harris had been talking with his mother and others in the street, leaning over a car, when Senior walked up behind him and shot him “execution style.”
Senior did not run away, instead standing around for a while before walking off, investigators said.
Among the witnesses was Brittany Moody, who was pregnant with Harris’ child. She told the Ledger-Enquirer in 2017 that she was in the back seat of a car, holding their 1-year-old daughter.
A friend was in a car nearby with Harris’ 11-month-old baby, she said.
She alleged Senior pointed the gun at her and others as they tried to get Harris’ 2-year-old boy to safety after the shooting.
Eventually Senior just walked away, she said: “He walked off like he didn’t give a [expletive],” Moody told the Ledger-Enquirer. “The way he looked at my baby daddy when he shot him, I couldn’t believe it.”
Moody said she was the mother of three of Harris’ 12 children.
Police were still at the scene of Harris’ shooting when they heard a suspect, nicknamed “Chip,” had barricaded himself in an apartment in the 3200 block of Fourth Avenue. Senior was arrested there after a standoff, officers said.
Called out nine times
The other man Senior’s accused of killing also was a father, with three children and a fourth on the way, family said.
“He loved life,” Nathan Johnson’s aunt Trelise Glanton said of her nephew during a 2017 Ledger-Enquirer interview.
“He was a good person,” she said. “He didn’t deserve to die. He surely didn’t deserve to die like that at all.”
Police said Johnson was playing cards with several people at a home in the 2200 block of Eighth Street when Senior burst in and started a ruckus.
Senior left, but started calling Johnson, telling Johnson to meet him outside, investigators said. Checking phone records, police saw that Senior called Johnson nine times, and sent a text, officers said.
Johnson was shot moments after he met Senior on the front porch of the residence, detectives said. Senior fled afterward.
Police called to the shooting at 9:34 p.m. found Johnson wounded on the porch. He was rushed to the Midtown Medical Center, now Piedmont Columbus Regional, where Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan pronounced him dead at 10:01 p.m.
In Johnson’s death, Senior faced the same charges as in Harris’ homicide: murder, using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
This story was originally published June 22, 2021 at 3:32 PM.