He shot at an FBI agent in Columbus and triggered a manhunt. Now he’s going to prison
For about a week in the summer of 2022, Joshuia Johnathon Luke Brown seemed to go viral on the internet, his face and name spreading across law enforcement and news media websites, and reposted on social media.
He and another man had fired a spray of bullets from automatic handguns at an FBI agent, in a Columbus neighborhood where one round hit a house, and federal authorities wanted him captured fast. They put out his picture and offered a $25,000 reward for tips on his whereabouts, before he surrendered Aug. 10, that year.
This week the 26-year-old identified as a member of the street gang US World was sentenced to prison for a myriad of offenses, chief among them forcible assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon.
U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land gave him more than 26 years.
The feds said agents had Brown and Jarvis Smith under surveillance for drug trafficking July 28, 2022, when they saw the pair make a drug deal on Winston Road. The pair drove to Wade Street and turned on Sheridan Avenue, where Smith stopped in the road as he and Brown jumped out and opened fire on an FBI agent’s car.
Bullets hit the passenger door, roof and rear bumper, and one went through the passenger seat. Another pierced a nearby home’s living room window, shattering a painting on a wall inside. No one was injured.
Muscogee County Sheriff’s deputies joined the FBI in trying to stop Smith’s car, starting a long pursuit both in cars and on foot. Smith was caught that day, but capturing Brown required a well-publicized manhunt.
Both men dropped evidence during the chase, authorities said. Brown left a bag containing a Glock handgun with an extended magazine, modified to fire like a machine gun. Smith’s camouflage backpack also had a modified Glock, plus a .380-caliber pistol and baggies of methamphetamine, pills and other drugs.
Smith, 29, pleaded guilty in August to assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, plus drug and gun crimes. His sentencing is set for Feb. 20. He faces life in prison.
Authorities said Smith, a member of the the Bloods street gang, had 2013 convictions for aggravated assault, burglary and robbery in Columbus, so he was prohibited from owning firearms.
Brown was found guilty during a September trial. Besides assaulting an officer, he was convicted on these counts:
- Brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence
- Conspiring to distribute controlled substances
- Distributing methamphetamine
- Possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine
- Three charges of possessing with the intent to distribute controlled substances
- Possessing a firearm to further a drug trafficking crime.