LAUDERHILL, Fla. — Reginald Merisma had threatened Anthony Johnson before Johnson, 35, called 911 on Sunday night, and police officers found Merisma, 35, dead, according to the Lauderhill Police Department.
On Monday, police officers arrested Johnson, and Broward Sheriff’s Office corrections booked him at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, according to inmate records.
When Johnson appeared in bond court on Tuesday in Broward County, Attorney Joshua Rydell was representing him, and his mother, Cora Johnson, told the judge her son was ”a good" person.
“If bullying is prevented, this could have been prevented also,” Johnson’s mother said during the hearing.
Johnson faced a first-degree murder charge. Broward County Circuit Judge Corey Friedman denied bond.
Before the shooting, Johnson told the 911 dispatcher that Merisma “was threatening people,” and surveillance video shows Johnson armed with a gun when Merisma raised his arms and hid behind a trash can, Lt. Antonio Gonzalez, a spokesman for the LPD, said on Monday.
“BSO dispatch heard a loud banging over the open line” during Johnson’s 911 call before Johnson confessed, “I just shot him,” according to Gonzalez.
A relative said Merisma had made threats before, and the shooting was in self-defense. Attorney Jack Palmeri, a former prosecutor not connected to the case, said a Stand Your Ground defense was likely.
The shooting was outside of Johnson’s home, in a driveway near Northwest 34 Terrace and Ninth Street, records show.
Gonzalez reported that Johnson first shot Mersima when he was raising his arms and later once in the head when he was hiding behind his garbage can.
“You have lost sight,” Palmeri said about Johnson’s decision to fire. “You don’t know what that harm is doing behind the garbage can.”
Broward County Circuit Judge Thomas Coleman was set to preside over the capital homicide case.
Johnson’s bond court hearing
Related reports
- Arrest made in fatal Lauderhill shooting
- Man found fatally shot in driveway in Lauderhill neighborhood, police say
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