Edward Johnson, Stillwater Prison Death Suspect: 5 Things To Know

STILLWATER, MN — Corrections officer Joseph Gomm was killed Wednesday in an assault at the Stillwater state prison. Gomm was attacked at 1:30 p.m. and was transported to Regions Hospital in Saint Paul, where he was pronounced dead.

"I am appalled at the horrific murder of Officer Joseph Gomm," Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement.

Authorities accuse inmate Edward Muhammad Johnson of killing Gomm, who worked for the Department of Corrections for 16 years.

After Gomm's death, Johnson was moved to the maximum-security prison in nearby Oak Park Heights.

Here are five things to know about suspect Edward Muhammad Johnson:

1. Edward Muhammad Johnson was just 12 years old when he watched his father shoot his mother six times before killing himself. Both of his parents were Chicago police officers.

Johnson and his 8-year-old sister, Zakiyyah, were raised by an aunt living in the Twin Cities.

2. Johnson was sentenced for the 2002 murder of his girlfriend, Brooke Elizabeth Thompson, in a Bloomington apartment.

"It is like history happening again," Zakiyyah Johnson told Pioneer Press in 2005.

3. Johnson's mother was the grandchild of Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam.

4. While in prison, Johnson has spent 1,695 days in isolation for various offenses. He lost his right eye after a fellow inmate stabbed him there in a July 2004 fight, reports the Star Tribune.

5. Investigators have declined to discuss details of Wednesday's prison death publicly. However, sources told KSTP that Johnson beat Gomm with a hammer.

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Image via Minnesota Department of Corrections