Thomas Johnson, a Dallas resident, has been charged with the murder of David Stevens, a random jogger he met on a trail. Johnson, a former football star killed Stevens with a machete, according to witnesses.
Thomas Johnson, a Dallas football player, has been accused of murdering a complete stranger. On Tuesday, Johnson, who was once a Texas A&M wide receiver, shocked many passersby on the White Rock Creek Trail in northeast Dallas, Texas.
According to several eyewitnesses, Mr. Johnson, who had been under the influence of an unknown substance, attacked David Stevens, a 53-year-old jogger. Thomas L. Johnson, 21, used a “large-bladed knife,” which was later identified as a machete to harm Stevens. Brandon, a young cyclist who witnessed the attack, told local reporters:
“You could tell it was a machete, coming down on what I wasn’t sure at first but when I got closer I could tell it was a body. And he was repeatedly hitting it in the back of the neck.”
After brutally attacking the stranger, Johnson walked up to another man and asked to borrow his phone so he could call the authorities and confess to the crime. According to Dallas Police Department Deputy Chief Rob Sherwin, Johnson said during the 911 call:
“I just committed capital murder. A man was laying down with a sword in his head and not moving. It’s like when you don’t wake up.”
The jogger was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. Sources told Sherwin that Johnson had recently lost his home and was very upset, which led him to kill an innocent man. Sherwin added:
“It appears Mr. Johnson picked this victim at random. Absolutely random. He just attacked him. … It’s just very unusual. It’s quite shocking.”
Johnson, who was charged with murder and two counts of probation violation, is currently being held at the Dallas County jail on a $500,000 bail. According to school officials and relatives, Johnson had a history of mental issues and had several run-ins with the law.
In 2012, luck came shining down on Johnson, who was recruited out of high school by Texas A&M where he showed his impressive skills during a game against Alabama. Two days after the game, he vanished without a trace and never played football again. While his mother declined to say why her son ended his promising career, an aunt had the following to say:
“[He] had been causing problems in the family for a long period of time.”
In 2014, Johnson broke into his aunt’s home where he stole her car and money. He was arrested and charged with evading arrest, burglary of a habitation and auto theft and put on one-year probation.
Last month, authorities took the decision to revoke his probation after he was caught using marijuana, and he failed to go to rehab.
Police still out at crime scene on White Rock Creek trail. Several layers of tape out here. pic.twitter.com/gZqSEVOssU
— Tristan Hallman (@TristanHallman) October 12, 2015
Without republicans, the NRA, or firearms companies to blame this will be a hard one for anti-gun democrats. They might actually have to blame the perpetrator. Apparently access to education isn’t the key to success for some. Another wasted scholarship on a fine young American