Muskegon County: Kleibecker, Warmington, Tague: A Collusion of Devils

That story — also reported to TV news crews and believed by many people — was completely false, investigators concluded: contradicted by “compelling evidence” including an audio recording of the scene, another witness’s statement to police and an autopsy report and other physical evidence.




The back of Phillips’ home is about 100 feet down the alley from the scene of the struggle and shooting. Phillips allegedly told police she heard a commotion and opened the back door that faces the alley. She said she could clearly see the scene by the light of the police officer’s flashlight. She said she saw no violent physical struggle, only a slight altercation and her brother “down” with the officer over him. She said she heard the officer say “I am going to shoot you” and Johnson reply “please don’t shoot me,” followed by the shot.



But investigators concluded:



• The alley was pitch black that night, and the officer had no flashlight. None was found on his belt or at the scene, and it was found about a block away, corroborating Anderson’s story that he had dropped it while chasing Johnson. Without a flashlight, it was impossible to see the scene from the back of her home.



• The autopsy contradicts her statement. The bullet entered Johnson in his left arm and chest area and was a contact wound, meaning the gun’s muzzle was close to his body.



• The only other reported “ear witness” to the struggle, a neighbor with no family connection to Johnson, said she heard a heated struggle and one man warning the other he was going to shoot — but did not report hearing anyone saying “please don’t shoot me.” That also corroborates Anderson’s statement.



• Anderson’s severe head wounds, including skull fractures, contradicts Phillips’s statement about seeing no physical struggle.



• A video camera mounted on another neighbor’s house didn’t record any video because it was too dark, but its audio did capture much of the incident.



The audio reveals Phillips, before the shot, trying to guide her brother to her home in the pitch-black alley by calling out “Ju Ju” (his street name) and “Over here,” Tague reported.



It also captures Anderson’s calls for help and Phillips’ repeated statements to police after the shooting indicating she didn’t know what had happened, such as: “Is that my brother?”, then “Oh my God, what happened?” then “What happened to him?” then “Can anyone tell me what happened?” and finally “Can someone please tell me what’s going on?”



The initial statement, “Is that my brother?”, comes more than a full minute after the shot is heard on the audio.



“While emotions in cases of this nature can be intense, they should not and cannot be an excuse to fabricate or embellish a statement to police,” Tague wrote in his legal opinion.