In the winter of 2017, a tragedy unfolded in the parking lot of an Owosso, Michigan, Walmart, forever altering the lives of several families. Anthony Lee Hammond, a 39-year-old male from Flint, was found deceased on January 27, 2017, the victim of a fatal shooting. Alongside him, another Flint man, 31-year-old Joseph Michael Carson, had also lost his life in the violent encounter.
The grim discovery of their bodies inside a car in the Caledonia Township store's parking lot launched a double homicide investigation.
Investigators soon unraveled the circumstances that led to the brutal killings, tracing the events back to a drug deal arranged online through Craigslist. The plan was for the sale of marijuana, but the transaction took a deadly turn, culminating in the shooting deaths of both Hammond and Carson. The investigation quickly led authorities to two suspects from Grand Rapids, Otis Smith Jr. and Anthony Holloway.
The legal proceedings that followed brought some measure of justice for the victims. Otis Smith Jr., identified as the triggerman in the deadly shooting, was convicted in Shiawassee County Circuit Court. He was subsequently sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the two men's deaths. His accomplice, Anthony Holloway, faced the same charges of murder and armed robbery. Though his defense attorneys argued that the shootings were an act of self-defense, the court found Smith guilty. A woman who acted as the getaway driver for the assailants was also sentenced for her involvement in the crime.
