Police Arrest Suspect in Killing of FBI Employee

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Image: Antoine Gray Johnson (Stafford County Sheriff’s Office)

Sheriff’s deputies in King George County arrested a Maryland man Monday for the shooting death of an FBI employee in Stafford County.

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office announced shortly before 6 p.m. Monday that Antoine Gray Johnson, 26, of Upper Marlboro, Md., was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Johnson was being held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford.

The sheriff’s office identified the shooting victim as Jeremy Brown, 29, of 110 Abbey Lane in Stafford. Brown, a police officer with the FBI, was leaving his residence at 5:01 a.m. Monday, in uniform, when he was confronted by Johnson.

Brown and Johnson knew each other, according to a statement from the Stafford sheriff’s office. Gunshots were exchanged during the confrontation and Brown was killed.

Stafford deputies responded immediately and were able to get a description of Johnson, as well as the vehicle he was driving, from witnesses in the neighborhood, in the southern part of Stafford near Fredericksburg. The reason for the confrontation is part of the ongoing investigation of the shooting, the Stafford sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office alerted neighboring jurisdictions of the shooting, and released a description of the suspect and the vehicle he was driving.

Within 20 minutes, a King George County sheriff’s deputy spotted Johnson and his vehicle in the area of Caledon Road and Dahlgren Road, and he was taken into custody in the area of Route 301 in Dahlgren.

Found in the vehicle was a handgun of the same caliber as the gun used in the homicide. An investigation by Stafford detectives during the day “clearly indicated that Antoine Johnson was responsible for the homicide,” the sheriff’s office said in the statement.

“Stafford deputies and detectives were confident, early on in the investigation, that this was an isolated incident and that Antoine Johnson acted alone in his assault of the victim,” the statement added.

In his position with the bureau, Brown served as a police officer at the FBI Academy, according to media reports. The academy is on the grounds of the Quantico Marine Corps Base.