The family of an elderly man fatally shot in a Missouri Walmart parking lot is speaking out in anger and heartbreak after discovering that the suspect, a former police officer, was trained to defuse situations but instead chose to use deadly force.
The children of Ron Barnett, 71, who was fatally shot in a Missouri Walmart parking lot last week, are speaking out following the revelation that the suspect is a former police officer.
"I love cops, but it does make me angry that he was a cop," John Barnett, Ron Barnett's son, said.
"He was trained. He knew better. You were trained to de-escalate and to manage a situation. And he didn't," added Barnett's daughter, Elizabeth Moon.
Taquiza V. Johnson, 47, is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action for shooting Barnett to death.
Johnson apparently served as a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer from December 2003 until February 2014 and was last assigned to the patrol bureau.
Moon, who had been dropping off her daughter at the University of Virginia, realized her father was missing when he wasn't answering any phone calls.
"No matter where he's at or what he's doing, he's always going to answer his phone, and he wasn't answering. So, I immediately started to panic," Moon said.
It was when she happened upon a social media link that showed her vehicle was involved in a shooting incident at Walmart that she turned frantic.
Ron Barnett was diabetic and had gone there to pick up his prescriptions.
"My dad was 71 years old. He could barely walk. I mean, he did walk, but it's slow. He was very slow. I mean, 71 years old. It wasn't like he could run a marathon or anything like that. So, it was very bad; there's no words," John Barnett said.
Surveillance footage captured video of the alleged altercation that lasted roughly three minutes.
As Johnson was coming out of the Walmart, Ron Barnett was passing by in his daughter's SUV when Johnson touched the vehicle, which led to an exchange of words.
Johnson confronted Barnett after the 71-year-old parked the SUV, who fired a single shot at Ron Barnett, which went right through him and through the back gate of the SUV, according to Barnett's family.
"I don't ever want my car back. I can't ever imagine being in that car knowing that that bullet went through my dad into my car," Moon said.
Johnson has a pending lawsuit claiming he was improperly detained at gunpoint by a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer, reported KMBC.
He's due in court next week for a bond hearing.
