Demetris Johnson caught public attention in 2011 when, at 16 years old, he faced adult charges for allegedly shooting a man to death in a parking lot near his residence. However, he was acquitted by a jury.
As he grew older, Johnson’s legal troubles persisted. In 2015, he was twice convicted of illegal gun possession. In 2021, while under electronic monitoring for ongoing armed habitual criminal and escape charges, he was accused of murdering a man at his family’s apartment complex, located approximately half a mile from the Chicago police headquarters.
On Monday, Judge William Gamboney sentenced Johnson to 60 years in prison for this murder.
According to prosecutors, on January 27, 2021, Johnson’s mother called the Chicago Police Department to their apartment on the 3500 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, reporting that her son had a gun and was experiencing a mental health crisis. She informed the police that he was hearing voices.
Another individual reported gunfire in the building, and security personnel discovered 26-year-old Gino Dameron dead in an elevator, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Surveillance footage allegedly showed Johnson holding a gun in the lobby before the shooting and carrying it up a stairwell afterward. Cameras also captured him fleeing out the building’s rear as police arrived, according to prosecutors.
During the investigation, officers received information that the suspect boarded a southbound CTA bus on Cottage Grove and got off at 46th Street. Officers found Johnson in the area, reportedly wearing clothes that matched those of the shooter, police records indicated.
Johnson was under electronic monitoring for a pending gun case, despite previously escaping such monitoring. Court records confirmed this.
The ongoing armed habitual criminal case originated from an April 29, 2018, traffic stop in the Washington Heights neighborhood.
Police reported that Johnson fled from a car’s passenger seat while holding his waistband. Officers pursued and apprehended him, discovering a loaded ammunition magazine next to the car. Firefighters were summoned to help search a nearby building’s roof, where a handgun was found.
The gun had one bullet in the chamber but lacked a magazine, the CPD reported. Investigators matched the magazine found beside the car to the gun on the roof, confirming the bullets matched the chamber round.
Prosecutors charged Johnson with being an armed habitual criminal, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon with a prior gun conviction, and failure to register as a gun offender.
After posting a $3,000 deposit, Johnson was released on electronic monitoring. He later faced escape charges for failing to appear in court in September 2019, leading to his detention.
Another judge, whose name remains unspecified in court files, reduced his release conditions in June 2020, allowing Johnson to return home under electronic monitoring after his aunt posted $20,000, according to records.
Both the armed habitual criminal and escape cases are still pending.
Earlier this year, a jury found Johnson guilty of two counts of murder in Dameron’s death. On Monday, Judge Gamboney sentenced him to 60 years, with Johnson required to serve the full term.
Since being incarcerated for the murder, Johnson has faced additional charges while in custody. He was accused of two counts of aggravated battery against a peace officer, and three separate cases charged him with one count each of aggravated battery of a peace officer. Another charge involved possession of a weapon in a penal institution. All these charges were dismissed by prosecutors on Monday.
According to a Chicago Tribune report, Johnson was charged as an adult in January 2011 for the murder of 23-year-old Zohntill Lemon in a parking lot on South Lake Park Avenue, close to where Dameron was killed. He was acquitted of that charge.
At the time of his arrest in that case, Johnson was already in the county’s juvenile detention facility for charges of aggravated battery against a school official at Dunbar High School, according to the Tribune.
