Man admits shooting officers serving warrant

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — A Poplar Bluff man recently pleaded guilty in federal court to assault and weapons-related offenses in connection with the shooting of a local detective who was among officers attempting to serve an arrest warrant on him.

James Odell Johnson Jr., 28, pleaded guilty as charged to the felonies of assaulting federal law enforcement officers, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and felon in possession of a firearm before U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

As part of his plea agreement, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Sorrell, Johnson and his attorney, Jennifer Booth, Johnson admitted to the elements of the three offenses, including that he “forcibly assaulted” U.S. Deputy Marshals H. Cameron Thuirer and Michael Miller and Poplar Bluff Police Detective Corey Mitchell.

The agreed-upon facts of the case say on July 19, Johnson was a convicted felon, having been convicted of the felony of stealing on Oct. 6, 2009, in Butler County and the felony of felon in possession of firearms on July 28, 2015, in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri.

On July 19, the plea agreement says, federal law enforcement officers were seeking to arrest Johnson on a federal arrest warrant, which had been issued by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, for alleged violations of the conditions of his supervised release from a previous federal conviction.

At the time of Johnson’s 2015 plea, he reportedly was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison to be followed by a three-year period of supervised release.

This was the second time Johnson had violated the conditions of that release, Sorrell earlier said. The first time Johnson received an additional six months of imprisonment, before receiving supervised release again. A warrant was issued for his arrest Feb. 23 on the current violations and officers had been looking for him since then.

“The officers learned that Johnson was living at an apartment located at 624 Kinzer St.” in Poplar Bluff, the plea agreement says.

Thuirer and Miller were among the officers who went to the Kinzer Street apartment building to look for Johnson. Some local officers, including Mitchell, assisted the marshals that day.

“The officers arrived at the door to the apartment and made contact with a resident … (She) indicated that she did not know if Johnson was in his room or not as his bedroom door was closed,” the plea agreements says.

The woman, according to earlier reports, told officers she had been renting Johnson a bedroom in her apartment.

After the woman was “escorted from the building … the marshals and other officers entered the apartment and began shouting for Johnson to come out,” the plea agreement says. “They were shouting that they were United States marshals with an arrest warrant for James Johnson.”

Johnson and a woman, who earlier was identified as his girlfriend, reportedly were lying on floor of the bedroom at the time.

“The officers shouted for a couple of minutes, then staged to open the bedroom door,” the plea agreement further says. “Thuirer went to a nearby bathroom that was close to Johnson’s bedroom door.

“Miller held a protective shield and took a (position) just outside the bedroom door, with Mitchell and Michael Alford (a U.S. Marshal Service Fugitive Task Force officer) behind Miller.”

Thuirer reportedly reached around the bathroom door, turned the doorknob to Johnson’s bedroom door and shoved it open.

“At that point, Johnson began shooting at the officers from inside the bedroom,” the plea agreement says. “His first shot struck Corey Mitchell on his right forearm, causing injury to that arm.

“Another shot fired by Johnson struck Alford in the chest, but he was wearing a bulletproof vest that stopped the round.”

Another shot reportedly fired by Johnson struck the protective shield held by Miller.

“Officers returned fire, but did not hit anyone in the bedroom,” the plea agreement further says. “The officers withdrew to the hallway of the apartment.”

Johnson, according to earlier reports, barricaded himself inside the apartment for about 1 1/2 hours.

After ongoing negotiations, Johnson surrendered and was taken into custody.

Officers subsequently executed a search warrant on Johnson’s bedroom and seized a Taurus 9mm pistol and a Colt .380 caliber pistol.

The Taurus pistol reportedly was equipped with an extended magazine allowing it to hold more than 30 rounds of ammunition.

“Johnson later was interviewed and admitted that he had used the Taurus pistol to shoot at the officers,” the plea agreement says.

On July 19, Johnson reportedly was in possession of both handguns. As a convicted felon is he prohibited from doing so.

After accepting Johnson’s plea, Fleissig set sentencing for 11:30 a.m. April 19.

At that time, Johnson faces up to 20 years in prison on the assault charge and up to 10 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Johnson also faces 10 years to life on the possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence charge. That sentence reportedly must be served consecutively to any other sentence Johnson receives.

As part of his plea, Johnson also agreed to forfeit both handguns, as well as ammunition for the firearms.

Johnson also is charged in Butler County in connection with the incident.

He is to appear Monday before Associate Circuit Judge C. Wade Pierce for a review of his case on three Class A felonies of first-degree assault, three unclassified felonies of armed criminal action, the Class D felony of unlawful possession of a firearm and the Class E felony of resisting arrest.