In the early evening hours of a Friday in Columbus, Mississippi, the life of 18-year-old Kwesi Kagekogel Hill Jr. was cut short by gunfire. On October 14, 2016, at approximately 8:30 p.m., officers from the Columbus Police Department were dispatched to the intersection of 17th Street and Fourth Avenue South following reports of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered that Hill had already been transported by a private vehicle to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the death of the male teenager moved swiftly. Authorities immediately broadcast a description of a vehicle seen leaving the area of the shooting. A Lowndes County Sheriff's Office deputy soon spotted the suspect vehicle on Brooks Road and conducted a traffic stop. The driver was detained, and a handgun was recovered from the car. The man behind the wheel was identified as 25-year-old Eric Lamar Brewer of Pandora Drive. Investigators worked through the night, processing the crime scene and interviewing witnesses. It was quickly determined that the shooting was not a random act of violence, as Brewer and Hill were known to each other.
Within hours of the fatal shooting, the Columbus Police Department had gathered enough evidence to charge Eric Lamar Brewer with the murder of Kwesi Hill. He was taken into custody and held at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center with an initial bond set at $250,000. The case would then move through the legal system over the next several years.
In May of 2021, the prosecution of Eric Lamar Brewer came to a resolution. Brewer, who had been indicted for first-degree murder, reached a plea agreement with the district attorney's office. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to ten years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Following his release from prison, Brewer will be required to serve five years of probation. The motive for the shooting that ended Kwesi Hill's life was never publicly disclosed in the available online sources.
