A Knoxville man has been arrested and charged with murder for the 2015 shooting that killed innocent teenager Alan Johnson.
Jeffery Stokes, 30, is charged with first-degree murder and reckless endangerment for the shooting that killed Johnson on Dec. 12, 2015.
Knoxville police said Stokes was arrested Thursday during a traffic stop on Gaston Avenue. He is being held in the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility. His arraignment is scheduled for March 10.
The Knoxville Police Department said Stokes has ties to a gang and he mistook Johnson for someone else when he opened fire in 2015.
"It was a case of mistaken identity. They were obviously looking for someone else and they thought Johnson was him and shot and killed him," said Darrell DeBusk, KPD spokesperson. "Johnson was a good young man who was doing all the right things. He had a job and was going to school. He was walking home from his job at McDonalds when he was shot on East Fifth Avenue. His body was found the next day. Alan Johnson was never in any trouble with the law in Knoxville or in Boston."
Family members say Alan Johnson moved down to Knoxville from Boston to escape a violent inner-city environment.
"Oh, my gosh. Alan [Johnson] was a fantastic young man. I consider him a gentle giant. He was like 6-foot 7-inches tall and really skinny. He was always ready to crack a joke and play video games against anybody. He thought he was the best in the world," said a smiling Stan Johnson as he reminisced about his departed nephew. "He loved his family and moved down here to be with us and escape the kind of things that happened to him anyway."
Stan Johnson said the last 14 months have been unbearable for much of his family, especially Alan's father.
"My brother, of course, he has been dealing with it. He has to walk past Alan's room every day. I couldn't imagine that," said Stan Johnson.
The Johnson family tried to remain patient during the investigation and made sure it remained on the forefront with KPD investigating several similar high-profile cases. Alan Johnson's death was just a few days before Fulton High School student Zaevion Dobson was killed in the crossfire of rival gangs while shielding three girls from the gunfire. A few months later, Dobson's sixth-grade cousin JaJuan Latham was an innocent victim of a gang-related shooting.
Stan Johnson said he is glad police made an arrest and charged someone, but the mistaken identity claim is difficult to process.
"That doesn't make sense to me. I mean, you don't just see somebody and think that's them and start shooting. You're talking about killing somebody. You shoot someone and find out the next day who you shot? So police, they say it's mistaken identity. None of that matters to me. My nephew is gone. My family member is gone. We'll never be able to have him with us again. The only solace that we have is he's with the Lord," said Stan Johnson.
Johnson said what does matter to him in all of this is the need to address the underlying causes of crime and gang violence. Johnson is executive director of SEEED, which is described as "a green community development non-profit focusing on creating and sustaining jobs for Knoxville’s urban young people, as well as ensuring clean energy technologies are available for low income residents."
"The saying is nothing stops a bullet like a job," said Johnson. "There is also sadness for the family of whoever did this shooting. This affects them, too."
Johnson said he has been moved by support from the community, including people online who have performed random acts of kindness in honor of Alan.
"People just went around and did kind acts. There was a lady in Germany who gave food to somebody in Starbucks. Another guy gave $20 for food, coffee and some gloves to a stranger. There were people in Gatlinburg who did that kind of stuff. They share the goodness that Alan did and hopefully other people will share the love that he had as well," he said.