Police said today the resident, identified by police on Tuesday as the grandfather of the victim, is cooperating with the investigation. He was released without charges filed, and it may be several days before a decision is made on whether he will be charged, according to a release.
Police are still working to determine what led to the shooting. Court records indicate Spencer was in Fairborn Municipal Court on Monday facing charges of assault, unlawful restraint, violating a temporary protection order, possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police said there have been no prior domestic calls to the address involving Spencer.
Neighbors said the victim is a 2010 graduate of Fairborn High School.
On a 911 call from the home next door at about 12:30 p.m., a man says his neighbor came running over and told him to call the police because he had just shot his “son.”
“I don’t know what happened,” the neighbor is heard saying on the 911 recording. “I was out mowing the lawn and he come running across his yard and told me to call 911 and the police.”
Neighbors said they didn’t see the shooting but came outside to see police cruisers arriving and the homeowner walking out of the home with his hands in the air.
The death came as a shock on the quiet street near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Johnson was described as a friendly neighbor who checked on other elderly residents on the block.
Pam Trusty said she was surprised to hear a shooting had occurred at that house.
“To me he was more like a protector of the neighborhood,” she said.
Neighbors know Johnson simply as “Sonny.” She said when she first saw all the cop cars on her street she immediately thought there may be a threat at the base.
“I thought here we go. Is this a bomb?” she said. “It was an automatic thought … with Boston.”
Neighbors said Johnson and his deceased wife raised Spencer in the Fairborn neighborhood. Anna “Cindy” Johnson died in 2010, according to an online obituary.
It is unknown if any other people currently live in the house.
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