Big Tom presumed dead in the US
Last night News Five broke the news that thirty-three year old Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers had been shot dead. The reports reaching us were that he suffered several wounds but did not die at the scene. He was rushed to a Utah hospital on Monday where he was pronounced dead. Other reports say Big Tom was killed in Atlanta, Georgia. His family told News Five today that they can't confirm his death. His sisters said it's all over Belize that Big Tom was killed but they have not received any factual information about his whereabouts and that he doesn't have any next of kin in the US. The court this afternoon did not release his court records. From what we know Big Tom left for the US in 2008 and according to our records, on February twenty-second, 2002, at the age of twenty-four, Big Tom was remanded for the fatal shooting of thirty-six year old William Carl Osmond. Big Tom was also shot by two men the same weekend in 2002, but refused to cooperate with the police on that investigation allegedly because he claimed he was not a snitch. Though he remained tight lipped about the incident in which he was shot, four years later, in December of 2006, twenty-two year old Alpheus Smith was charged for shooting Big Tom and James Young. But one month prior, in November of 2006, Big Tom was charged along with Arthur Young for the possession of a Firearm, ammunition and drugs. Big Tom was believed to be an enforcer for the 'Back Ah Town Crew' between 2002 and 2007. In 2005, one Kenneth Flowers, thirty-eight years of age, was charged with rape, but Big Tom's family denied he was involved in any carnal incident. While the family cannot confirm his death, sources close to News Five say that Big Tom is indeed dead.
Channel 5
Word has reached Belize from the State of Utah that Belizean street figure, Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers, 32, was shot and killed on Monday, April 19.
Family members have confirmed that he moved to Utah after living in Los Angeles for a few months.
One of his sisters spoke briefly to the Reporter said that her family has still not been able to ascertain the circumstances surrounding his death. The family has been told only that he was shot in the head.
"We still don't know if he is really dead," his sister said.
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers was a prominent street figure in Belize City associated with the Back-a-Town Gang. "Big Tom" as his nickname suggests, was a tall and imposing man, widely regarded as an enforcer for the Back-a-Town Gang.
In 2002, when he was 22 years old, he was shot in the streets, but he never collaborated with the police to help bring his attacker to trial.
Following the weekend gun attack on himself and James Young, in 2002, "Big Tom" was formally arraigned on a murder charge for the killing of William Carl Osmond.
Gang violence had flared up between the Back-a-Town crew and the George Street Gang in a fight over turf.
The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (D.P.P.) was unable to make the murder charge against Big Tom stick, and he was soon back in the streets after the D.P.P. entered a nolle prosequi submission.
In November 2006, after the gang warfare had been raging for about 18 months, police recovered a live hand grenade from some members of the George Street crew, and from Big Tom and Arthur Young they recovered guns, ammunition and drugs.
Kenneth Flowers, went to live in New York shortly after the United Democratic Party came to power in February 2008.
The Reporter
There's news about Kenneth Flowers, known as Big Tom coming out of Utah - where he's been accused of murder.
The Salt Lake Tribune yesterday reported that the 33 year old Flowers has been ordered by a District Court Judge to stand trial for allegedly shooting and killing another man in December.
He has pleaded not guilty to the murder and faces up to life in prison if convicted. He will be tried for one count of first-degree felony murder.
Another charge, for possession of a firearm was dismissed.
The Tribune reports that Flowers shot Cisco Cross in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun.
Flowers who had been smoking crack in an apartment said he shot Cross because he believed Cross had "set him up and the people were going to kill him."
Flowers was deported from the United States to Belize twice in 2001 and 2006.
Another very interesting item coming out of the U.S. court is that on April 19, 2010 Flowers was shot in the head, shoulder and hand in Murray, Utah. He survived but that's no doubt what gave rise to the April 21st. news report in Belize that he had been killed in Utah.
He will be arraigned on May 2nd.
Channel 7