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By
Alyssia Davis [former]
- December 20, 2022
Attempted Murder
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Court
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Daily Stories
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Non-Fatal Shooting
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Shooting
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Suspects
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On Dec. 19, a Baltimore man hesitantly pleaded guilty to having a loaded handgun before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin H. Schrieber.
The prosecutor amended a charge against Darius Martaz Johnson from the use of a firearm during a felony violent crime to having a loaded handgun on his person.
Johnson, 21, accepted a plea of three years, suspending all but one year with three years supervised probation for having a loaded handgun on his person and a concurrent one year for reckless endangerment, and an additional concurrent year for discharging firearms. Upon release, the defendant must register as a gun offender.
In regards to the rest of the charges against the defendant the prosecutor entered a nolle pros in exchange for the guilty plea.
The defendant was charged with first and second-degree attempted murder, first and second-degree assault, two counts of reckless endangerment, discharging firearms, the use of a firearm during a felony violent crime, and malicious destruction of property value less than $1,000 in connection to an incident on June 24.
According to court documents read by the prosecutor, on the day of the incident, at 3:29 a.m., officers were called to a Crown gas station on the 1800 block of Bloomingdale Road for reports of shots being fired. Upon arrival, officers found no victim but found several gun casings on the scene.
After reviewing surveillance footage, officers saw a group of people hanging outside the gas station running in different directions when shots rang out.
Johnson’s defense attorney Staci Pipkin informed the court that her client was one of the people in the crowd who were shot at when he returned fire in self-defense.