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HE VIOLATED THE PROTECTIVE ORDER. HE WAS RELEASED ANYWAY.

THE DEATHS OF SHAREKIA JOHNSON & PAUL JOHNSON JR.
Lesslie Community, South Carolina — April 8, 2020

The warning signs were there.

The arrest had already happened.

The court orders were already in place.

Yet somehow, it still wasn't enough.

Sharekia Johnson was 42 years old. A devoted mother and Mecklenburg County government employee trying to rebuild her life after a relationship that authorities say had already become violent.

Her son, Paul Johnson Jr., was only 5 years old.

A little boy who should have been safe inside his own home.

On the morning of April 8, 2020, York County Sheriff's deputies responded to a residence on Yorkdale Road in the Lesslie community near Rock Hill after reports of a shooting.

Inside, they found Sharekia Johnson and her young son dead.

Authorities say the person responsible was Sharekia's husband, 41-year-old Paul Patrick Johnson Sr.

Investigators allege he shot both Sharekia and Paul Jr. before turning the gun on himself.

He was transported to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

What makes this case especially heartbreaking is that the danger had already been documented.

Months earlier, in December 2019, Paul Johnson Sr. was arrested after authorities alleged he choked Sharekia and beat her with a belt.

A protective order was issued.

According to investigators, he violated that order.

One violation reportedly occurred just two hours after his release from jail when he appeared at Sharekia's residence. The encounter was captured on a doorbell camera.

His bond was revoked.

Then later reinstated.

By January 2020, he was back out.

At the time of the killings, court orders prohibited him from having contact with Sharekia.

Yet he still made it to her door.

And inside the home where a mother and child should have felt safest, both of their lives were taken.

Sharekia Johnson was trying to move forward.

Paul Johnson Jr. was simply a child living his life.

Their futures were stolen in a tragedy that many believe should never have happened.

Their story is not only about the violence that occurred on April 8, 2020.

It is also about the warnings that came before it.

The violations that were documented.

The danger that was known.

And the lives that were lost anyway.













© The Vivid Faces of the Vanished.

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