PHOENIX — Court documents have provided new information about the shooting of a DPS trooper and the man accused of pulling the trigger.
Those documents reveal that on May 25, Howard Johnson was originally a suspect in a hit-and-run crash near 19th Avenue and Loop 101 in Phoenix.
The car he was driving at the time was allegedly stolen.
When a DPS trooper tried to take Johnson into custody, he allegedly pulled away and shot at the trooper. Those same documents said the trooper returned fire and both were hit multiple times.
Witnesses and the trooper said they saw Johnson get into a car that left the scene.
Court documents said Sonia Hernandez was the woman who picked Johnson up from the original scene.
Allegedly, her children were in the back seat.
ABC15 was told Hernandez brought Johnson to two homes, the last near 71st Avenue and Indian School Road.
Johnson was then picked up at that home by someone else.
ABC15 was told that’s how Johnson ended up at an apartment complex near 67th and Olive avenues in Glendale.
Court documents said he was knocking on doors until he barricaded himself inside one of the units.
“I looked out and there was nothing but the SWAT,” said Starla Hayes.
She was upstairs in the same building as Johnson with her young daughter and mother.
“Next thing you know we have a big bang on the door, and one of the cops came in and said we have to evacuate,” said Hayes.
Her family had to go to the neighbor’s apartment and use a ladder to climb down.
She said police were trying to make sure they avoided the scene below.
Hayes told ABC15 they stood outside for hours listening to the arrest play out, at one point they even heard a loud explosion.
“I didn't know if my stuff was going to be blown up,” said Hayes.
Nearly a week later, Hayes’ apartment is undamaged, and she told us management repaired the windows and wall below her unit.
“It’s crazy because they had to do all that damage to these brand-new apartments,” said Hayes.
Hernandez was arrested for her involvement.
Court documents said Johnson was a previous felon and Hernandez admitted to seeing him shoot at the Trooper, knowing that he wasn’t supposed to have a gun and that he said he had been in a collision before the shooting.
Hernandez told law enforcement that Johnson did not physically threaten her while she drove and that he instructed her where to go.
The court documents note that Hernandez did not attempt to call the police after Johnson was picked up.
As for the trooper who was shot, DPS told ABC15 he's still in the hospital with a long road to recovery ahead.
