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Witness says Vashon Flowers shot her mother while she protected victim's grandson

The shooting victim's daughter testified about an argument over cigarettes and physical assault hours before hearing four gunshots.

MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Investigators believe Jamie Thomas-Flowers, 50, was shot four times by her husband, Vashon Flowers, 46, early in the morning on May 19 at the couple's home in Muskegon Heights.

Thomas-Flowers died at the scene.

The shooting happened while the daughter of the Thomas-Flowers was in a bedroom protecting her young son.

Flowers was bound over for trial on a charge of open murder following a preliminary examination Monday, June 17, in Muskegon County District Court.

Thomas-Flowers's daughter Paris Jones testified at the court hearing that her mother and Flowers first started arguing on Saturday, May 18. Jones told the court her mother didn't want Flowers to begin smoking again. 

"He was irritable and said that he was a grown man and if he wanted to buy cigarettes then he'd buy cigarettes," Jones testified.

The two argued on and off for several hours. At one point, Jones says Flowers began assaulting her mother after pulling her off a bed by an ankle.

"He got down on the ground and started choking my mother," Jones testified.

The two were separated and police were called to the home. Flowers left after the altercation. Early the next morning, Jones says she heard Flowers kick in the front door to the home.

At that point, she told the court she didn't know Flowers had a gun but stayed in a bedroom to protect her 2-year old son.

"I heard, 'you don't have to do this Vashon, please don't do this,'" Jones testified. "Then I heard gunshots, four."

Jones testified that she found her mother sitting straight up against a wall with bullet holes in her shirt.

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