This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Murray man has been charged with fatally shooting his neighbor outside their apartment complex last week following a drunken altercation.
Carl David Johnson Jr., 56, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder in the June 11 death of 58-year-old Thomas Dunn.
Johnson also was charged with first-degree felony discharge of a firearm with serious bodily injury.
He was being held at the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $1 million cash-only bail. No court dates were immediately set.
According to charges and jail booking documents, officers responded just after 4:30 p.m. on June 11 to a report of shots fired outside the Iris Apartments, at 4865 S. State St., where they found Dunn with a gunshot wound in his back. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Johnson had been drinking with his neighbors, including Dunn, when he and Dunn — who were both intoxicated — got into a verbal argument, which became physical, the documents state.
Dunn "took Carl [Johnson] to the ground," the jail booking statement says. After Dunn got off of Johnson, Johnson went upstairs and into the apartment building.
Several minutes later, Johnson came down the staircase carrying a handgun, with which he shot Dunn, the documents state. Witnesses told police that Johnson then kicked Dunn in the head and face as he lay on the ground.