Good Guy with a Gun #100: Baton Rouge, LA
Original incident: February 8, 2024. Our centidian post has it all, including a Good Samaritan, defense of an abused woman, an exchange of bullets, and the bad guy getting charged.
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. If you bought or received a calendar, contact me for a complementary subscription. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
Jeremy LaMichael Johnson is a 26-year-old from Baton Rouge. He dropped his “dating partner” (as the police record calls her) off at the Howell Place apartments to wash clothes. When he came back just before 10 PM, she started putting clothes in the trunk of his car. Her 17-month-old was also in the car.
He got impatient. “Hurry up!” he yelled, and he grabbed her by the back of the neck.
But he didn’t count on bystanders.
Say what you want about the wisdom of getting involved in other people’s business, but Johnson was hurting her enough to get him charged with battery of a dating partner — it sure seems like intervention was warranted.
So a man and woman tried to de-escalate the situation.
Nope. It turned into a fight, and then Johnson grabbed a gun from his car and shot the man in the hand.
But the man was armed, and he fired back at Johnson, hitting him in the stomach.
With the “dating partner” rescued, police arrested Johnson on three counts of attempted first-degree murder, battery of a dating partner, battery of a dating partner with child endangerment, aggravated criminal damage to property, and illegal use of “weapons or dangerous instrumentalities.” Got to love that Cajun flavor.
Sources
WAFB 9 covered the initial report and Johnson’s arrest.
Unfiltered with Kiran is a digital news source from indie journalist Kiran Chawla. She caught the first part of this story in a roundup of Baton Rouge violence: Last 24 hours in Baton Rouge: Nine people shot in six shootings, two of them died.
WBRZ 2 caught the first part as well, but didn’t seem to follow up.
On the 2A specialist side, John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) noted this story in its round-up of DGUs from February 2024.
"weapons of dangerous instrumentalities" -- that's a great phrase! Thankfully the child wasn't injured.