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Man arrested with gun had similar charge dropped a week ago
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man whose case was dismissed last week after he was arrested in August with a gun after police said he threatened a woman was arrested on a gun charge Christmas Day.
Shirley Johnson, 63, is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm after he was arrested about 5 a.m. Tuesday at a home in the 1100 block of Katherine Street on the East Side.
Johnson is not allowed to have a gun because he served a prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter for the death of his wife.
Police were called to the home after a woman called 911 and said Johnson had held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.
Reports said Johnson would not talk to police after they arrived, and in a bedroom they found the handle of a gun sticking out of a basket next to a bed. Police checked and found a .38-caliber revolver loaded with three rounds, reports said.
The victim told police she was sleeping when she heard Johnson come inside the house, and when she went to his bedroom, Johnson put the gun to her head and threatened to kill her.
On Aug. 26, Johnson was arrested at the same home on a charge of aggravated menacing for purportedly threatening a woman there. Police also found a .38-caliber revolver in the home that they took, reports said. Reports said the case was dismissed Dec. 18 after the victim could not be served a subpoena and did not show up to testify in court.
In that case, two women, one of them the victim in Tuesday’s incident, told police Johnson pointed a gun at them and threatened to kill them both. One of the officers who answered the call in August also answered the call Tuesday, reports said.
Vindicator files show Johnson was charged with aggravated murder in July 1976 for the shooting death of his 20-year-old wife, Janet Johnson, during an argument in their Court Street home. He pleaded guilty in February 1977 to voluntary manslaughter in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and was sentenced to five to 25 years in prison.