Dr. Thomas Brewer

Dr. Thomas Brewer, a prominent Black physician and founder of the Columbus NAACP chapter, was fatally shot on the evening of February 18, 1956, inside the F&B Department Store owned by Luico Flowers. Tension between the two men had been building for years; Brewer had asked Flowers to report a white police officer's arrest of a Black man in front of Flowers's store as excessive force, which Flowers refused to do, and Brewer had separately threatened to organize a boycott of the store after Flowers declined to support a candidate Brewer favored in a city commission race. Flowers said he shot Brewer when Brewer reached into his pocket as though drawing a gun. The shooting was investigated locally by the Columbus Police Department and presented to a Muscogee County grand jury. No one was ever convicted.

Columbus, GA · Muscogee County

• 1956: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Victim identity, background, and the February 18, 1956 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.
• Luico Flowers acknowledged shooting Brewer and claimed self-defense; the matter was presented to a local grand jury, per the same file.

• Whether Brewer actually reached for a weapon, as Flowers claimed, was never resolved.
• The specific outcome of the Muscogee County grand jury's review of the case was not detailed in the available public record.

• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs