AMARI JOHNSON
DEMETRIUS FLOWERS
NATHAN REEDER
HARRISBURG – After several months of relative peace, a crazy incident in early December helped shatter it.
On the evening of Tuesday December 5, a hostage situation erupted at an apartment on Barnett Street in Harrisburg, with two individuals, a man and a woman, allegedly being involved in the armed conflict.
The situation occurred the day after a shooting incident in the 200 block of West South Street, but that was considered unrelated (at the time); whether the status of that unresolved shooting incident changes in the future remains to be seen.
However, the calm that had prevailed in Harrisburg since the roundup and jailing of most of the Hamilton-Gibbs bunch earlier in 2017 was broken with the back-to-back incidents, the first of which (the shooting) resulted in no arrests, the second of which (the hostage situation) resulted in two.
Scary evening
Authorities that evening stated that a male had been pistol-whipped by one of the intruders, and that two women were being held hostage by another of the intruders in the upstairs of the apartment.
Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS, which provides tactical response to such matters) was called in because the alleged home invaders refused to speak with anyone locally.
The team arrived, but the situation was resolved by about 8 p.m. that evening.
Taken into custody were Amari A. Johnson, 18, of Carbondale, and Demetrius T. Flowers, 22, of Murphysboro.
While court documents don’t show why on earth the two opted to travel all the way from Jackson County to Harrisburg to raise as much heck as they did that evening, they do show what the two were charged with…and who it was that was being held during the alleged hostage situation.
Held three women hostage
Johnson is accused of three counts of Aggravated Kidnapping, all Class X felonies, in that she confined Mariah Amburgey, Tamiyah Harris and Paige Nolen against their will while armed.
She is also charged with Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, a Class 4 which carries a mandatory one to three years incarceration, and which alleges that Johnson was carrying an uncased, loaded and immediately accessible pistol for which she had not been issued a valid FOID.
As it turned out, authorities allege the pistol was stolen: Johnson is also charged with a Class 2 felony count of Possession of a Stolen Firearm in the same incident, addressing the .22-cal revolver which it’s alleged she knew to be stolen.
That charge was followed by a Class 4 felony count of Obstructing Justice, in which it’s alleged that when Harrisburg Officer Matthew Forrester and Sergeant Curt Hustedde asked her her name, she told them it was “Brianna J. North.”
Additionally and related to that count, Johnson was lastly charged with Forgery, wherein she was accused of writing “Brianna J. North” on a Harrisburg Police Department Statement of Constitutional Rights and Waiver Form (Miranda rights), which Hustedde provided to her as a common course of business upon being taken into custody and told of her rights. Such a signature constitutes an intent to defraud on an official document, and is a Class 3 felony, whether the young woman knew it or not.
Enhanced charges
Her co-defendant, Flowers, was also charged with three Class X felony Aggravated Kidnapping counts pertaining to the three females previously mentioned in Johnson’s charges; however, his carries a mandatory 15-year sentence as an enhanced charge.
Flowers also has an enhanced sentence count of Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, a Class 2 felony which is enhanced because of a previous felony conviction of Driving While License Revoked.
Flowers, too, is charged with Possession of a Stolen Firearm (the same .22-cal revolver as Johnson was charged with).
He is also charged, however, with two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Felon, Class 3 felonies which carry a mandatory two to 10 years incarceration, due to the aforementioned felony conviction, which originated in Jackson County.
Additionally, Flowers is charged with a Class 3 count of Aggravated Battery, which alleges that Flowers struck Nathan Reeder in the face with a pistol. (Reeder was able to get away from the location of the hostage situation, and that was, reportedly, how authorities came to be aware of it.)
While Johnson has negligible criminal history in Jackson (a 2016 Underage Possession of Alcohol Ordinance Violation, for which she was placed on six months of court supervision, concluded in April of this year), Flowers has a considerable record there, dating back to at least when he reached majority age (18) four years ago. His record reflects ongoing bad driving, along with a huge number of violence counts, many of which were inexplicably dismissed, but a couple of which he was convicted and sent on his way with nothing meaningful done to him.
Of the victims involved, only Reeder has a criminal history in Saline, most of that involving violence and/or trespassing/unlawful restraint…much like Flowers and Johnson are accused of in this situation.
Whether that has anything to do with the hostage situation, however, isn’t something that’s indicated in court documents.
Both Johnson and Flowers, as of press time (Dec. 17), were still being held at the Saline County Detention Center in Harrisburg, each on a $25,000 cash bond.