Police File Charges In Road Rage Shooting That Injured 2-Year-Old

BALTIMORE, MD — Police said a man was charged with attempted murder and other offenses in connection with the shooting of a 2-year-old. The boy was shot over the weekend while riding in a vehicle in Baltimore, according to police.

Javon Johnson, 33, has been charged with attempted murder, assault and various handgun-related offenses, police reported Monday, Oct. 14.

Police said the charges stemmed from a drive-by shooting motivated by road rage.

Investigators believe the child was in a car that was stopped at a red light, along with other family members, around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12.

When the light turned green, the other vehicles that had been stopped ahead of the family's car at the light did not move, so the driver beeped the horn several times, then drove around the stopped cars to go through the light, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.

The driver of the first vehicle that had been stopped at the light caught up to and shot at the car, Harrison said, hitting the 2-year-old boy inside.

"The motive for the shooting was road rage," the Baltimore Police Department said in a statement.

Officers from the central district responded to a Shotspotter alert that detected gunfire in the 600 block of Franklin Street.

"This is a coward who fired out of his car indiscriminately into another car," the commissioner said at a press conference Saturday morning.

Police said detectives from the central district identified Johnson as the shooter, obtained a warrant and filed charges Monday, Oct. 14.

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