Dominique Johnson, 18, faces charges after police say he pointed an AR-style rifle at a car occupied by a woman and her one-year-old child in the parking lot of a gun shop in north Charlotte.
Surveillance footage shows Johnson pointing the gun at a white car on Saturday. The gun shop is steps away from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s North Division building.
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The woman’s husband worked at Watchdog Tactical on Harris Oaks Boulevard.
He told Channel 9 that his wife picked him up from work, but when she pulled into the parking lot, she was met with the end of a gun barrel.
“That’s the most terrifying thing she could have felt,” Alex Wehner said.
He is grateful that they emerged unscathed.
“When someone threatens my family and loved ones, that’s when it really affects me,” Wehner said.
Johnson purchased ammunition before the incident, Wehner said.
“We can see he’s doing something strange there,” he said.
Johnson walked up to a suspected Uber and when Wehner’s wife pulled into the parking lot, the suspect pulled out the gun and pointed it at her car, which stopped before driving away.
Johnson then got into the car that was waiting for him and it began to drive away.
Seconds later, Wehner emerged from the gun shop, armed with a handgun for protection.
“The Uber driver yells at him. I’m yelling at him now, and then they both run away,” Wehner said.
Police arrested Johnson using the surveillance video. He also wore an electronic ankle monitor, which directed him to the scene of the crime.
Earlier this year, Johnson was arrested after police said he shot at a car with five people inside, including three children. No one was injured.
Johnson was charged with five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He managed to break out of prison, and Wehner didn’t understand how that was possible.
“The fact that someone who tried to kill five people was allowed back out,” Wehner said. “I mean it blows your mind. It makes you wonder if any of us are safe in this city right now.”
In that previous case, Judge Fritz Mercer set Johnson’s bond at $60,000.
Mercer was on the bench again in Johnson’s latest case and this time the judge set his bond at just $2,500.
Channel 9 contacted Mercer’s office to ask why he continues to give low bonds to Johnson. We haven’t heard anything back.
Johnson was still in jail Wednesday afternoon.
Channel 9 also attempted to contact someone from CMPD and Uber to see if the Uber driver was involved and if everything is okay.
