Man Allegedly Shoots 2-Year-Old Boy in 'Cowardly, Violent' Road Rage Incident
A Baltimore man was charged Monday with attempted murder after he allegedly shot a two-year-old boy in the stomach during a road rage incident.
Javon Johnson, 33, is also charged with assault and various handgun-related charges in connection with the Saturday shooting, which garnered a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
At a press conference over the weekend, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison denounced the shooting as a “cowardly, violent act we believe to be an act of road rage.”
The toddler, Baltimore Police Department detective Jeremy Silbert tells PEOPLE, “remains in the hospital being treated for his injuries.”
He is expected to survive.
Police were called to the 600 block of W. Franklin Street in the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore around 12:30 a.m. for a Shot Spotter Alert, which alerts police to gunfire, but there was no victim or suspect at the scene.
Soon after that, officers were called to an area hospital where the boy was being treated for a gunshot wound to the stomach.
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Harrison said the child was inside the vehicle when the shooting occurred.
“The vehicles were stopped at a red light and the light turned green and when none of the vehicles moved through the intersection the driver of the vehicle where the victim was located blew the horn several times but none of the cars moved through the green light,” he said. “After blowing the horn several times during the green light cycle the driver drove around the cars and turned the corner. What we believe is that the driver of the first car at the light followed and caught up to the victim’s vehicle and then fired from his vehicle into the victim’s vehicle, striking the child.”
“Crimes like this simply cannot and will not be tolerated in a civilized society and in a great city like Baltimore,” Harrison said.
Johnson is currently being held at the Central Booking and Intake Facility. It’s unclear if he has retained an attorney or entered a plea.
