A man with 21 felony convictions, including 10 for armed robbery, is now charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man in a robbery attempt outside a Maxwell Polish stand. Tommie Johnson, 54, is also accused of committing another armed robbery and threatening to shoot a woman in the days since the April 9 shooting outside Maxwell’s 3801 West Harrison location.
At about 3:40 a.m. that morning, a 56-year-old man stopped at the restaurant for a bite to eat as he drove home from work, prosecutors said. He picked up his order and returned to his car, where a woman asked him for some money so she could buy something to eat. Feeling bad for her, the man gave her a couple of dollars.
Moments later, Johnson allegedly walked up, leaned on the victim’s car window, put a gun to the man’s head, and threatened to kill him while demanding money.
Fearing for his life, the victim floored the accelerator, but Johnson fired a shot, sending a bullet completely through the man’s neck, in the left side and out the right side, prosecutors said.
The victim crashed into a pole across the street. Johnson, prosecutors said in a court filing, hopped on a Divvy bike and rode to his mother’s house.
Detectives gathered a variety of surveillance videos showing his movements before, during, and after the shooting, according to prosecutors. A Chicago cop who has arrested Johnson in the past recognized him from a piece of video.
Investigators recently executed a search at Johnson’s mother’s house. They found clothing that matched the items he wore on the night of the shooting, including a jacket that had three live bullets in the pocket that matched shell casings found at the shooting scene, the court filing said.
While the investigation was underway, Johnson allegedly robbed a man in the 3400 block of West Carroll on April 18, taking a pair of Air Jordans, a phone, and two jackets. On April 25, he allegedly pointed a gun at a woman’s head and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t buy him drugs in the 2700 block of West Flournoy.
Prosecutors charged him with attempted murder, attempted armed robbery, and aggravated battery by discharging a firearm in connection with the April 9 case. He is charged with robbery for the incident on Carroll and with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the threat allegations.
In the court filing, prosecutors said Johnson received five concurrent 20-year sentences in 2004 for six robberies and two kidnappings. He received four concurrent 10-year sentences in 1996 for four separate armed robberies, the filing said. Altogether, prosecutors listed 21 felony convictions for Johnson since he turned 18.
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