Rally for man slain by deputy in Missouri City.
Just 15 miles from continued Houston protests over George Floyd’s death, dozens gathered in Missouri City to demand justice for a man killed in April by an undercover sheriff’s deputy.
U.S. Rep. Al Green and the family of the slain man, 35-yearold Joshua Johnson, on Saturday emphasized the need for a peaceful protest amid the backdrop of nationwide violence in the wake of Floyd’s death.
“We all said that this should be done peacefully,” the Houston Democrat said. “Let’s take this to court and see what the court will do for people who have lived under the threat and the fear of becoming a victim at the hands of the constabulary.”
Green repeated his calls for an independent probe through a court of inquiry, which requires a state district judge to appoint another district judge to hear evi
dence and determine if a state law has been violated, and if so, issue an arrest warrant.
His push for that path forward came as he and Johnson’s family and friends continued to question authorities’ version of events.
“That’s all we want to do, is get justice,” said Johnson’s father, Richard Beary. “We know that the truth will come out.”
The Harris County Sheriff ’s Office reported that before dawn on April 22, Johnson approached an undercover deputy as he sat in an unmarked vehicle under a street light on East Ritter Circle. He tapped on the deputy’s window with a BB gun in one hand and his phone with its light turned on in the other, they said.
Words were exchanged, officials said, and the deputy asked Johnson to lower his weapon. According to the sheriff’s office, Johnson instead raised it, and the deputy opened fire, striking him at least twice.
Johnson went to his vehicle, leaving behind a trail of blood. The medical examiner’s office found that he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The sheriff ’s office said the BB gun looked like a more lethal weapon — a point the protests’ organizer ridiculed Saturday.
Johnson believed that someone had tried breaking into his home earlier and was on the lookout for an intruder, his family said.
“Bad guys don’t carry BB guns,” organizer James Hudson said. “People that are house sitting for little old ladies in their neighborhood don’t … my god, help us.”
The plainclothes deputy had been working with the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders task force to find a capital murder suspect from Mesquite. That man wasn’t found on East Ritter, where a family member was believed to have lived. After Johnson was killed, the subject of the original investigation surrendered to North Texas authorities.
No video could be found from the Missouri City street. The deputy was not wearing a body camera and wasn’t required to while working undercover. It’s not known whether he identified himself to Johnson as they spoke.
Those at Saturday’s rally raised issues with several elements of the deadly encounter, including the lack of body cam footage, a bullet hole in a neighbor’s garage, the placement of the unmarked police vehicle, and how Johnson was alleged to have confronted the deputy.
“There’s no way you had an exchange of words and then you shot him,” said Shanequa Estes, Johnson’s girlfriend. “We were robbed way before we should have been.”
Several of Johnson’s friends referenced the national outcry over police killings of black men.
Floyd, a Houston native, died in Minneapolis police custody Monday night after video showed an officer kneeling on his neck, pinning him to the ground while he pleaded for help. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with murder and manslaughter, and Chauvin and three other officers at the scene were fired earlier this week.
Protests took place in cities across the nation, and they turned violent Friday night in Houston, with eight officers reported injured and 137 arrests made. Demonstrations continued Saturday.
Bernadette Smith, Johnson’s family friend and a relative of the woman for whom Johnson was house sitting, agreed that Floyd needs justice. But Johnson does too, she said.
“What about Joshua?” she said. “What about all the other Joshuas?”
“That’s all we want to do, is get justice. We know that the truth will come out.”
Joshua Johnson’s father, Richard Beary