Canton Double Homicide Suspect Extradited To Georgia

Editor's Note: One or more names in this report have been redacted in light of additional documentation provided regarding this case.

CANTON, GA — One of 13 defendants charged in connection to the June 2017 double homicide near downtown Canton has been extradited back to Georgia. Christian Carroll-Johnson of Baltimore, Maryland, was booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday, May 9, jail records show.

Johnson, who was captured on Monday, April 23 in Baltimore, was booked into the jail on two counts of murder, one count of affray, three counts of aggravated assault, two counts of giving a false statement, one count each of criminal damage to property in the first degree and criminal damage to property in the second degree; three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime; and 18 counts of street gang terrorism.

Johnson's transfer to Cherokee County comes about two weeks after another defendant, Bryson Miller, turned himself in on charges he's been indicted on related to the case. All 13 defendants are now housed at the Cherokee Adult Detention Center.

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Arraignment for the defendants was originally set for Tuesday, May 8. However, Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace said that has been rescheduled for two days: 9 a.m. June 5 for Darron Anthony Brown, (removed), Byron Scott Elrod, Brian DeShawn Miller, Bryson Miller, Brody Austin Samples, Brooke Wotring, and Jeremy Ulysses Zellous.

Arraignment for Johnson, Jamesly Baptiste, Javon Reid, Temarlos Turner and Aiklee Wilson will be held at 9 a.m. June 7. Both sessions will be held in Courtroom 2D at the Cherokee County Justice Center.

Eleven of the 13 defendants, including Miller and Johnson, were indicted for their alleged affiliation with the Bloods, the infamous street gang based in California. All defendants are accused of being involved in three events occurring within a month.

These incidents began when two opposing groups got into a physical altercation in the middle of Crisler Street near Burge Park on June 24, 2017. The following evening, Canton police officers and Cherokee sheriff's deputies responded to a shots fired call in the same area of the brawl. One shooting victim, William Kendrick Randall, was found dead at the scene while the other, Tony Lamar Samples, was found shot to death inside a vehicle on North Street. That vehicle, the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office previously said, belonged to fellow defendant Jeremy Zellous.

Roughly two weeks later, officers responded to another call of shots fired towards the Iglesia Pentecostes El Faro church at 385 Crisler Street and a home where witnesses to the double shooting lived. The Canton Police Department initially announced the arrest of five individuals connected to the shooting, but the indictment pointed to a larger network of organized crime that resulted in local officials getting the help of the FBI Northwest Georgia Criminal Enterprise Task Force.

Photo: Christian Johnson. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office