Cars and motorcycles lined up outside a Missouri City gym Saturday, engines idling for a ride that has become an annual ritual of grief and defiance. One day before the second anniversary of 19-year-old Cody Johnson's killing, his family and community gathered again to retrace his final drive and to push forward an effort meant to help someone else build a future he never got to have.
Retracing His Last Miles
The third annual End the Rage Run began at Alphaland in Missouri City, the gym where Johnson used to train and where a memorial bench bearing his image was dedicated on what would have been his 20th birthday, according to FOX 26 Houston. From there, riders traveled to Cycle Gear in Katy, escorted by police, on a route organizers said retraced Johnson's final drive, as reported by KHOU 11.
Johnson was killed on Sept. 27, 2024, while traveling to pick up his girlfriend after leaving a family member's home, per the same account. He was found shot inside his Camaro along the Katy Freeway feeder road and later died at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The station notes the Harris County Sheriff's Office has investigated the killing as an apparent case of road rage.
A Distinctive Car, a Cold Trail
Johnson had been driving a black 2011 Chevrolet Camaro with custom gold rims and a loud exhaust at the time of the shooting, a vehicle so visually and audibly distinctive his family hoped fellow commuters would remember seeing it on the highway, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The shooting happened in the 23600 block of the westbound Katy Freeway service road near the Grand Parkway, and responding deputies found Johnson unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds outside his vehicle, which had come to a stop less than a quarter-mile from the emergency room at Memorial Hermann Hospital Katy, according to Click2Houston.
Investigators struggled from the start to identify a suspect. No witnesses had come forward initially. Six months after the killing, Crime Stoppers of Houston and Johnson's family placed a highway billboard near I-10 and FM 1463 in Katy to publicize a reward, now up to $30,000, for information leading to an arrest, according to KHOU. Anyone with information can contact the HCSO Homicide Division at 713-274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
Turning Grief Into a Scholarship
Johnson had graduated in spring 2024 from Ridge Point High School in Missouri City, where he played baseball, and was scheduled to start a new job in car sales just four days after his death, the Express-News reported. Saturday's ride raised money for the Cody Johnson Memorial Scholarship, which his family intends to use to help someone attend trade school, receive sales training, or pursue another career path, per KHOU. The ride carried the message “We ride, we remember. We take action. End the rage. Choose respect. Save lives.”
Beyond the scholarship, Johnson's family has kept working on the car he never finished. They plan to preserve the vehicle he wanted to complete, and to keep working on it in his memory. Mike Johnson got a tattoo depicting Cody's car, and Amy Juneau got a smaller version of a tattoo Cody had on his own arm, according to the same report.
Part of a Wider Pattern
Johnson's case sits inside a much larger wave of highway gun violence in Texas. Local law enforcement reporting recorded more than 80 people shot in road rage incidents across the state in 2024, according to Click2Houston.
Under Texas Penal Code § 19.02, a driver who intentionally or knowingly causes a fatal shooting during a road rage encounter faces first-degree murder charges, which carry penalties ranging from 5 to 99 years or life in prison. Nearly a year after the killing, no suspects had been identified. Johnson's family continues to honor him with the ride and scholarship effort, while asking the public to remember his black Camaro and come forward.
