In a case of vigilante justice gone wrong, a 22-year-old Milwaukee woman is accused of gunning down a teenage boy she suspected of breaking into her sister’s car.
Zaraiah A. Johnson was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and use of a dangerous weapon in the killing of Alijah S. Golden-Richmond, 14, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Atlanta Black Star. She is being held on a bail amount of $150,000 and faces up to 60 years behind bars if found guilty.
The tragedy unfolded just after 3 p.m. on Aug. 15 in the 1400 block of North 39th Street, say Milwaukee police.
The complaint revealed that Johnson’s sister first alerted her to a group of people breaking into their Hyundai parked in front of their home. Johnson observed four people “near the vehicle,” and when she went outside, the group scattered. She then allegedly grabbed her mother’s handgun — and that’s when things quickly went off the rails.
Johnson’s mother, Shontay, believed her daughter had already fired on the boys at this point, and that is why they ran away, stated the complaint.
Both mother and daughter hopped into the car to track down the culprits, and they soon encountered a group of four boys walking together. Johnson claimed in the court document that she wasn’t certain if those were the same ones who broke into the car back at the house, so she “circled the block.”
She “then yelled something to them to get their attention, at which time two of them began to run,” reads the complaint. One of the boys, identified only by his initials EPL, said all four were unarmed, and he described the chaotic scene to authorities, claiming, “The woman fired into the air.”
EPL said that Johnson then began shooting in their direction and “hit dirt by his feet.” Golden-Richmond, however, wasn’t so lucky. He had been shot in the back and later died at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. According to EPL, Golden-Richmond had wanted to steal a car that day, and after breaking the window of the Hyundai, the group heard a female voice inside the residence say, “Mmhmmm!” and they all ran off.
After the deadly confrontation, Johnson returned home, where she checked social media and found a Facebook Livestream of a commotion around the slain boy.
Local residents, however, thought the struggling teen was overdosing and administered two doses of Narcan, reads the complaint. It wasn’t until first responders arrived at the scene that everyone watching the Livestream realized he had been shot in the back. That’s when it clicked for Johnson that “she likely is the person who killed him,” stated the complaint. Johnson then fled her home, allegedly telling her mother that she disposed of the murder weapon in a trash can. It was never recovered.
When first apprehended by police, Johnson insisted that a man named “Neff” pulled the trigger. Her confession allegedly came after learning that her own mother said she fired the gun.
A witness also came forward to police to identify the shooter as female. At that point, “Zaraiah A. Johnson began to cry and said she did not intend to kill anyone and just wanted to scare them,” read the complaint.
Golden-Richmond was set to begin high school this year and was described by his mother, Princella, as “a house kid” in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “My kids were never really outside. They were never really able to go outside like that. But when he did, it was to the park and back home,” she stated, adding that she believed he was on his way home from the park when he was fatally shot.
