The Brief
- Zariah Johnson was sentenced to 32 years in prison in the August 2024 shooting death of a 14-year-old boy near 39th and Vliet in Milwaukee.
- Johnson pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in the case in July.
MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Zariah Johnson on Thursday, Aug. 14 to 32 years in prison plus an additional 15 years of extended supervision in the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy near 39th and Vliet in Milwaukee in August 2024.
Johnson pleaded guilty in July to first-degree reckless homicide in the case.
Case details
What we know:
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police were dispatched to the area near 39th and Vliet on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. Citizens had gathered and administered two doses of Narcan to the victim, thinking this was an overdose. But once medical personnel arrived on the scene, it was learned the victim had been shot in the back. Five .380 casings were located in the area.
A witness to what happened told police the victim, later identified by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office as Alijah Golden-Richmond, “wanted to steal a car and that as they walked by the 37th Street School (Golden-Richmond) saw the blue/green Hyundai. (Golden-Richmond) broke the window of the car and they heard a female voice from inside saw ‘mmhmmm!’ And they all ran northbound on N. 37th St.,” the complaint says. As the group was walking, the same vehicle drove eastbound in an alley, so the group “hid on the front porch of a house and the car stopped,” the complaint says. The complaint goes on to say the “woman fired in the air and they all started running. The female then ‘started shooting in their direction and hit dirt by his feet.'” The witness told police none of the people in their group was armed.
Police interview
What they’re saying:…