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Subject: DEATH: JOHNSTON, Tommy Leroy
Date: 1 Oct 2005 05:48:56 -0600

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Classification: Death

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http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/9357

Message Board Post:

Father Shoots Son in Rosamond
Killing in Rosamond over Burqer dispute
"
Rosamond resident Jay Johnston is being held in the Kern County Jail at Bakersfield after being booked at the Mojave Sheriff's Substation on a charge of murder.
Sgt. Tom Shuell of the Mojave Substation and Deputies Marion Dickey and Bryan White were called to Rosamond Sunday evening Jan. 6 to investigate an alleged shooting of 19 year old Tommy L. Johnston by his father, Jay Johnston.
An inquest was held last Tuesday at Bakersfield. Johnston will appear for a preliminary hearing Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. before Municipal Judge Frank Noriega. The charge of homicide was brought by a coroner's jury Tuesday. He was arraigned later in the morning on a murder charge before Judge Noriega. :
The shooting is said to have occured following a family disagreement over the preparation of food. The argument involved the mother of Jay Johnson who was at the home at the time of the tragedy, officers said.
The youth was taken to the Antelope Valley Hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead on arrival. Sgt. Shuell said he felt the boy probably died instantly from the 22 calibre gunshot wound in his head.
The fifty year old father is reported to have told officers, that he only meant to scare the boy when he went to the bedroom and got the 22 calilbre pistol during the argument but the youth is supposed to have told his father to "go ahead and Shoot". And the father did,
The local officers called Kern County Homicide Detective H. Cooper of Bakersfield into the investigation.

Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society
Courtesy of Mojave Desert News, California City, Kern, CA
Published: 10 Jan 1963

Rosamond father Pleads guilty to Manslaughter
James B. Johnston of Rosamond, charged with the murder of his 19 year old son, Tommy Leroy Johnson, has entered a plea of guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter.
The charges grew out of the death of the youth from a 22 calibre pistol wound inflicted by his father in an argument over preparation of a hamburger. The young man was shot once, the bullet passing into his body just under the left armpit, and through the heart.
When Johnston appeared in Bakersfield court under Municipal Judge Frank Noriega, he was represented by his attorney Henry Bianchi and it was after conferring with him that he entered the lesser plea. Johnston expressed concern for his aged mother who was a witness to the slaying as was another son, James, 24. Mr. Johnston said he felt the court appearmce would be too hard on the elderly lady.
Following the pIea, Judge Noriega bound Johnston over to Superior Court for sentencing. Johnston reportedly faces a one to ten year term in a state prison.

Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society
Courtesy of Mojave Desert News, California City, Kern, CA
Published: 24 Jan 1963

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