Riddle of Scottish helicopter pilot shot dead in US
Wife of Tim, 29, plugged bullet hole with fingers
AMERICAN detectives are investigating the shooting of a Scottish helicopter rescue pilot who was found dying on his kitchen floor on Christmas Eve.
Timothy Johnston, 29, was discovered lying in a pool of blood by his wife and their four-year-old daughter at their beachfront home in Melbourne, Florida.
The young father, who grew up in Galston, Ayrshire, had carried out a helicopter rescue only hours before his own death, saving the life of a man who suffered a stroke in a rural area.
Now Mr Johnston’s American widow Lynn cannot afford to support herself and their daughter, Saoirse Belle, and has had to move out of their family home.
On Christmas Eve, Mrs Johnston and her daughter came home to find the Glasgow University graduate dying on the kitchen floor.
Mrs Johnston, an intensive care nurse, tried desperately to save her husband. She said: ‘I did what was natural and tried to resuscitate him.
‘I plugged the bullet hole with my fingers and tried to do CPR. Then I scooped him up – there was blood everywhere.
‘I really do not know what happened. I don’t know if he’d been defending us or if someone was waiting for him.’
Melbourne police investigating the shooting have not ruled out the gunshot wound being self-inflicted. It is understood Mr Johnston’s gun was found close to his body.
Mr Johnston – known affectionately as TJ – was buried on January 7, two days before his daughter’s fifth birthday.
His parents, Fiona and John Johnston, who live in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, were too upset to speak last night.
As Mr Johnston had only just started a new job, his widow has not been able to claim life insurance for him. And as he was not a US citizen, Mrs Johnston cannot claim social security benefits either.
She cannot afford the rent on their current home, or the new house they were due to move into next month.
Bailiffs have threatened to repossess the couple’s cars, while she and Saoirse are constantly on the move between friends’ houses and hotels.
Mrs Johnston has now set up an internet page in the hope of raising some cash to pay off her debts – including the $10,000 (£7,000) funeral costs.
She said: ‘It’s a horrible situation to be in and I’m left to appeal to people’s good nature because we don’t have anything.’
Mr Johnston was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Galston where he attended Loudoun Academy. The family later moved to Aberdeen.
Before training as a pilot, Mr Johnston held various jobs in Scotland, including at IKEA’s
‘There was blood everywhere’
Glasgow store. He also studied medical design engineering at Glasgow University.
He moved to Michigan in 2008 to train with Bond Aviation. His father had been a North Sea pilot and he wanted to follow in his footsteps.
He met Mrs Johnston on Florida’s Cocoa Beach later that summer.
Mr Johnston worked as a search and rescue helicopter pilot for Air Medical Resource Group in Michigan, dividing his time between the mid-western state and his Florida home.
Tributes have poured in for Mr Johnston online.
University friend Catherine Callow, from Sydney, wrote: ‘His charisma and enthusiasm for life was unmistakeable – his beaming smile was testament to that.
‘He was wonderfully articulate and incredibly witty.’
Scott Gibson, Mr Johnston’s uncle, said: ‘He loved the tartan and the waggle o’ the kilt. He so loved the brown and green of the Highlands as it raced under his feet.’
His cousin, Alexander Johnston, said: ‘You were both my friend and hero when we were kids. It breaks my heart that looking back I worshipped you as a child, and now I mourn you as a man.
‘The Johnston family will just simply never be the same again.’