Six years ago on this date, 29-year-old James Johnson was shot at a Sunoco gas station near Sullivant and South Highland avenues in Columbus, then drove himself to a United Dairy Farmers store on Hague Avenue looking for help before he collapsed. He never made it home to his six children. His killing remains unsolved, and his mother, Brenda Johnson, says she cannot begin to grieve until someone is arrested.
According to 10TV's initial reporting from the night of the shooting, officers first responded to a ShotSpotter alert at the Sunoco station around 3:30 a.m. and found shell casings scattered across the parking lot. Police later got a separate shooting call from the United Dairy Farmers at 530 Hague Avenue, where officers found Johnson inside a Honda Element suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to Grant Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
James was sitting in his own vehicle at the gas station. A preliminary investigation pointed to two men as the shooters, who fled the scene in a red-over-gold Pontiac Montana driven by a woman, though no arrests followed.
A Mother's Annual Return to the Scene
Brenda Johnson planned to return to the intersection where her son was shot on the sixth anniversary of his death, a ritual she repeats every year while urging anyone with information to come forward. She has said grief does not get easier with time, and that she wants people to remember her son through good memories rather than the violence that ended his life.
Johnson's youngest daughter was just two years old when her father was killed; she is eight now, and the family says she still asks about visiting his grave and joining the annual vigil. When she struggles to remember the sound of his voice, relatives play old videos of him for her, according to the 10TV report.
Johnson's death came during what was, at the time, the deadliest year in Columbus history. WOSU reported on Dec. 30 that Columbus had recorded 173 homicides, with two days left in the year; the previous annual record was 144, set in 2017.
Turning Grief Into Advocacy
Brenda Johnson has been involved in support work following her son's murder. She has said she holds the annual vigils at the shooting site specifically to keep pressure on investigators until an arrest is made.
The case sits within a much larger backlog. Data from the Ohio Attorney General's Office reported by 10TV in 2019 showed Franklin County had more than 700 unsolved homicide cases on record, a volume that cold-case units continue to work through with the help of tips and newer technology. In February 2022, 10TV reported that the Columbus Division of Police launched a dedicated Unsolved Murders web portal, letting residents submit digital tips directly to detectives or anonymously through Crime Stoppers, partly to reach younger residents who rely on mobile devices.
Sullivant Avenue's Ongoing Violence Problem
The Sunoco station where Johnson was shot is near Sullivant and South Highland avenues. As reported by Hoodline in February, the city has since implemented a Clean and Safe Corridor initiative along Sullivant Avenue, pairing targeted police enforcement with physical infrastructure improvements.
Other shootings in the same stretch illustrate how persistent the problem has been. Hoodline reported on a fatal shooting along the corridor in which a suspect was arrested at the scene, and gun violence on Hague Avenue — the same street where Johnson sought help in 2020 — resurfaced again this year.
Columbus police have also shifted investigative resources toward the West Side. Hoodline reported in September that the department expanded its Non-Fatal Shooting Team into Zone 3 after a pilot program posted a 94 percent solve rate, compared with a 53 percent citywide average in 2025, a strategy meant to resolve shootings quickly enough to head off retaliatory violence.
How to Submit a Tip
Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information leading to an arrest in Johnson's case. Tips can be submitted anonymously through the organization's tipline at 614-461-TIPS or via the P3 Tips mobile app, which offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest or indictment of felony suspects across Central Ohio.
Six years on, Brenda Johnson's message has not changed: she wants whoever was involved in her son's death to be held accountable, and she says she cannot begin to properly grieve until that happens.
