A Newlands East family is calling for justice to be served after their son was shot and killed last September in Briardene following a suspicious phone call from their son’s friend. Thirty-year-old Reese Johnson was allegedly shot and killed on Krishna Road en-route to pick up his friend from his home in Rosery Road.
According to his devastated mother, Shaunette Johnson, at the time that her son received the call to go pick up his friend, he was at home with his fiancé, the mother of his two children, aged two and four years old.
“He got a call from his friend to come pick him up, only to find that he was not there and was on Krishna Road where he told him to drive to and pick him up which is where he got shot. I only found out from the police that he was dead at around 2am in the morning, while the incident took place at around 9.30pm. His friend who was in the same proximity failed to inform me what had happened, after he saw him laying in his car, dead, and seeing messages which I had sent to my son before all this happened,” said the mother. She said that when the police brought her son’s belongings home, they brought only his takkies and cellphone on which all messages and call recordings had been deleted.
“When I questioned the friend he said he was not at the scene and had not seen Reece that night. After a few attempts of questioning, the friend then confirmed that he was waiting for him at the bottom of the street where he was buying alcohol while my son went to make a u-turn at the top of the street to come down to him and that was when he got shot.
“He also told me that when he realised that Reece was not coming down the street to meet him, he went to look and found he had been fatally shot, which was really traumatic for him. He also said that police were called to the scene by other bystanders, however, he could not notify my family or his fiancé about what had happened as he did not have airtime. He therefore allegedly went home,” explained the mom.
Johnson said she still found it strange as to why the friend would first lie about his whereabouts at the time of the incident. “All that information was given to the detectives from Greenwood Park Police Station, however, it seems that it was not enough because at this present moment I have not received any information on their investigation. On 10 May it will be 10 months since my son was killed and I still don’t have answers,” said the mother.
She questioned that if this incident was a robbery or hijacking of some sort, why was his car not taken or his gold earrings and cellphone which were in the car. The mother said that after the family’s own investigation, they found that all the messages were deleted by the same friend who allegedly feared to be implicated in the case. Johnson said her husband has been to the police station a number of times to get answers on the progress of the investigation, however, nothing tangible has been said to him.
“The detective from the station only came to my house three times after my son had died, despite him making promises to my family that he would give us an update on a weekly basis. I feel that the police are not doing their job and as a family we will never get closure and will never know what really happened that night. We want justice. My boy a was a sweet man, working and was sober, I want to know why someone would just kill him in cold blood like that. He just went to fetch his friend,” cried Johnson.
She said the friend and the deceased had been friends for over six years and that he is like family, however, she feels that he may know something about his son’s death which he is not saying. The deceased’s fiancé, Stephanie West, said all she wants is justice and closure, especially for her children who are growing up and still ask, every day, when their father will be coming home.
“It’s really heart breaking to hear them ask about him. The day he died, he put them into bed before he left. All we are asking the police is to give us feedback on their investigation and for justice to be served,” said West. Greenwood Park SAPS were contacted for comments, however, none had been received at the time of going to print.
