‘Die slow.’ At 16, he shot woman holding a child. Now, the Columbus man heads to prison
A Columbus man who was 16 when he shot his pregnant 27-year-old girlfriend in the chest as she held a toddler in her arms is headed to prison after pleading guilty Tuesday.
“Die, [expletive]! Die slow,” Kevin Jamario Florence told the woman after shooting her with Glock 9-millimeter pistol that had been stolen just a month earlier, prosecutors said.
That gun was taken from another resident of Columbus’ Warren Williams Homes, where Florence’s girlfriend lived on 12th Avenue with her two children, according to court records.
Because she had already two young children in the apartment, the pregnant woman did not want Florence bringing a firearm into her home, and that ignited the argument that preceded the shooting, said Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Schwartz.
Though the victim was holding a 1-year-old at the time, the fight escalated until Florence pulled out the handgun and shot her in the chest, said Schwartz, who during Florence’s guilty plea told Superior Court Judge Maureen Gottfried: “But for the grace of God, this defendant would be facing a murder charge.”
Though the victim survived, she had to undergo repeated surgeries, Schwartz said.
The sentencing
Initially charged in Muscogee Juvenile Court, because he was a minor, Florence is 19 now, and his case was transferred to Superior Court in September 2020.
He faced multiple felonies before he pleaded guilty this week to attempting to commit a felony, in this case murder; using a firearm to commit a crime; theft by receiving stolen property, and third-degree cruelty to children, a misdemeanor.
Gottfried sentenced him to 30 years in prison with 15 to serve and the rest on probation.
Defense attorney Anthony Johnson asked Gottfried to grant Florence first-offender status, which could have cleared his record if he successfully completed his sentence and probation. Gottfried refused, saying the offense was too egregiously violent to warrant that.
She said Columbus has a problem with young people recklessly using firearms, and Florence’s offense is yet another example of this pressing issue the city must address.