Johnson
A Louisville man has been charged after he allegedly shot at a passing car while on Interstate 65 in Johnson County earlier this month.
Nasier Deahlo Montell Johnson, 24, is charged with two counts of intimidation, both as a Level 5 felony, and possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor. Johnson, of Louisville, Kentucky, was one of two people arrested after a Sept. 8 shots fired incident on I-65 near the Worthsville Road exit in Greenwood.
At around 11:17 a.m. on Sept. 8, Indiana State Police Dispatchers received a 911 call about shots being fired on I-65 northbound near the 97-mile marker in Greenwood. The person who was shot at, who was driving a Subaru, was able to provide a good description of the suspect’s vehicle, according to a press release from Indiana State Police.
Multiple troopers to responded the area of the shooting and positioned themselves to intercept the vehicle. An ISP detective who ultimately apprehended the suspects happened to be on I-65 in an unmarked vehicle near the location of the call. He was in the “right place at the right time,” the news release says.
The detective located the vehicle, a white Nissan Sentra, on I-65 northbound at the 105.5-mile marker, between the Southport Road and Keystone Avenue exits on the southside of Indianapolis. The detective followed the vehicle until other troopers caught up to it near the 114.8 mile marker, near the 21st Street exit. Together they pulled over the suspect, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday in Johnson County Superior Court 2.
Johnson, who was the driver, was taken into custody along with the passenger, Armani Crooks, 20, of Lorain, Ohio.
The people in the Subaru that were shot at said they were traveling home to Illinois after a vacation when the white Nissan cut between them and a semi while they were in the left lane of I-65. The Nissan did not pass the semi, so the Subaru slowed down and merged to the right to pass the Nissan before merging back into the left lane, according to the affidavit.
The Nissan then passed on the right and an occupant in the Subaru made a “What are you doing?” gesture. Johnson, the driver of the Nissan, then allegedly displayed a handgun, firing multiple shots at the Subaru before continuing northbound.
The Subaru’s occupants described hearing the gunfire and bullets strike the vehicle. After they pulled over, the Subaru had four dents from gunfire but none of the bullets penetrated the door, according to the affidavit.
Investigators requested and were granted a search warrant for the Nissan. A search revealed a Glock 43 handgun with a fully loaded magazine and one round in the chamber under the driver’s seat. They also found two burnt marijuana cigarettes, according to the affidavit.
State troopers also saw a phone with a GPS route to Chicago active, the affidavit says.
Crooks was arrested on a preliminary charge of possession of marijuana as part of the incident, however, she has not yet been formally charged.
An initial hearing for Johnson has not yet been set.
