South Carolina officials identified the victims of a gruesome Rock Hill murder-suicide, including a child.
FOX 46 reports that police arrived at a home off of the 1400 block of Yorkdale Drive in Rock Hill on Wednesday and found two people dead. The victims have been identified as 5-year-old Paul Johnson Jr. and Sharekia Johnson, 43.
Paul Patrick Johnson Sr. is accused of shooting the victims before turning the gun on himself. First responders took him to Piedmont Medical Center, where he passed away. The child and mother died at the scene.
The Herald reports that Johnson Sr. was out on bond when the incident occurred. He was arrested in December for allegedly choking Sharekia Johnson and hitting her with a belt. Court documents indicate that at the time, Johnson Sr. told his wife that he could end her life.
Johnson Sr. made bonded out of jail on December 18. He was released under the condition that he have no contact with his wife. Within two hours of his release, a Ring camera reportedly captured him at his wife’s front door.
Police arrested Johnson Sr. again. On December 27, York County magistrate Chisa Putman revoked his bond for deliberately violating the court’s order.
“The defendant has demonstrated a complete lack of regard for the court’s order, as demonstrated by the conduct he was both orally and in writing prohibited from engaging in,” Putman wrote.
On January 8, however, York County Circuit Court Judge Dan Hal canceled out Johnson Sr.’s bond revocation and released him on the previous conditions of staying away from his wife.
Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett said prosecutors argued at both bond hearings to keep the suspect behind bars.
“I don’t know what else we could have done to keep this man in jail. We argued he should go back to jail after he willfully violated his bond the day of his initial release, and we were successful.”
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