The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN said she was terrified when 17-year-old Elron Johnson entered a Chinese restaurant with a gun last year.

The inquest into the teenager’s police-involved killing began in the Coroner’s Court yesterday.

Police claimed Johnson and an accomplice robbed the Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant on East Bay Street and was shot and killed by an off-duty officer while trying to flee the scene on June 15, 2023.

Marjorie Morley testified that on the night of the incident, she was at the restaurant picking up an order when she heard someone order the restaurant’s patrons to get on the ground.

She said she turned around and saw Johnson in a camouflage face mask as he walked towards seated patrons with a gun.

She said she was initially in disbelief. She said eventually, Johnson’s back faced her, and a partition separated the two.

Ms Morley said she she bent down and moved towards the door, where she encountered a man in grey outside.

She said she told the man to “get the [expletive] out of my way, I’m getting out of here.”

Although she recalled the man muttering something under his breath, she said he moved aside and allowed her to get out.

She said near the bottom of the stairs, she heard the man in grey tell the gunman that police were coming. She then noticed the man outside reach inside his waist for something, causing her to run towards her car and dive inside before shutting the door.

She said while ducking for cover in her car, she heard shots but couldn’t see who fired them. Later that evening, she gave a statement to police before leaving the scene.

Sergeant Akira Robinson of the Criminal Investigations Department testified that she went to Double Dragon after the shooting.

She said when she arrived at the scene, she saw several police units had already arrived, and she found the deceased’s body lying on the ground near the back of the building.

She said she spoke to several restaurant patrons and employees and recorded their statements.

The statement of Trinity Bowleg, a restaurant employee, was read before the five-person jury.

Ms Bowleg said she was sitting in the waiting area at the front of the restaurant around 10pm when she heard a commotion.

She said she saw a short, dark man in black clothing with a handgun demanding that people get on the ground and give him their belongings.

A short time after the robbery began, she heard the deceased’s accomplice say from outside, “the man is coming”, before both men tried to flee the scene.

Ms Bowleg said after running upstairs, she heard gunshots but later told police that she did not get a good look at either suspect.

Juanita Daxon-Pinder, Ms Bowleg’s mother, testified that she was in the restaurant’s parking lot with a clear view of the entrance waiting to pick up her daughter when the incident happened.

She said she was listening to music when a young man in grey clothing approached the restaurant from a western direction with a black mask and a baseball cap on. Although Mrs Daxon-Pinder couldn’t see the suspect’s face clearly, she said he looked 18 to 30.

She said she became concerned when she saw the deceased pull a gun from his pants, and she tried to call her daughter to tell her to hide. When her daughter didn’t answer the phone, she said she tried to call the police, but was unsuccessful.

Mrs Daxon-Pinder said she was scared when the deceased ran past her car. She said she saw an officer engage the man, telling him: “Stop, police”.

She said while Johnson was climbing a wall, he aimed a gun at the officer and fired it, causing the officer to return fire. She claimed the deceased fired “a lot”.

She said she was ducking, screaming and hiding in her car during the gunfire, fearing she would be killed.

She claimed that the deceased was still firing in the air by the time he dropped to the other side of the wall.

When questioned by K Melvin Munroe, the attorney for the officer in this inquest, Mrs Daxon-Pinder claimed the deceased fired his gun first.

Acting Coroner Kara Turnquest Deveaux pre- sided over the hearing, and Angelo Whitfield marshalled the evidence.