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Crime, Law and Justice
Tim Nelson

Prosecutors say police shooting of man in St. Paul last year was justified

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A new report from the Ramsey County attorney’s office says video evidence shows 24-year-old Howard Johnson fired at police as many as three times before a St. Paul police sergeant returned fire and killed him in a shootout on the East Side on Dec. 5.

Ramsey County attorney John Choi released a memo today, concurring with a decision by his staff not to charge Cody Blanshan with any crimes. 

The report says that Johnson came to the attention of police after a woman who shares two children with him called 911 to report he had a gun and was threatening to kill her. Officers tracked him down on the city’s east side, along Interstate 94, where police said he appeared in the street on foot, apparently trying to carjack a passing motorist. 

Sgt. Cody Blanshan said he feared the street assailant might shoot the driver, so he accelerated his own police vehicle and intentionally hit Johnson with the front bumper, sending him flying. Both Blanshan and an officer in the front seat beside him said they saw Johnson fire at them as they approached. 

Surveillance and body camera video shows Johnson getting up from the crash and firing twice more, the report on a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation said. The investigation found that Johnson missed. Blanshan returned fire, hitting Johnson eight times as he stood in the street. 

Johnson died at Regions Hospital a short time later.