Criminal Details

The Enterprise Ledge
Danny Harrison – May 14, 2008

ENTERPRISE — An apparent domestic dispute turned deadly over the weekend, leaving an Enterprise woman dead and her husband in jail charged with shooting her to death.

Linda Johnson, 61, was shot multiple times and died later at a hospital. Her husband, Delma Gene Johnson, 65, has been charged with murder.

Enterprise Police Capt. Mike Lolley said officers responded to an emergency call by Linda Johnson from her home at 507 N. Rawls St. around 9:45 p.m. Saturday.

Lolley said officers were rounding the corner onto the street when they heard a pair of gunshots. Upon arrival, officers reportedly observed Linda and Gene Johnson laying on the ground outside the house. Lolley said a revolver was found near Gene Johnson’s hand and he also was wounded in his right foot.

According to a police press release, the Johnsons were both taken to Medical Center Enterprise, and Linda Johnson was later transported to a Montgomery hospital where she died. Gene Johnson was treated and released before being arrested by police and charged with murder, according to a police news release.

Gene Johnson appeared in court late Monday afternoon where Coffee County District Judge Paul Sherling set bond at $100,000. Johnson remained in the Coffee County Jail after the hearing.

Lolley said Linda Johnson was shot several times in the chest, but was conscious when police arrived and told officers on the scene that her husband had shot her.

Lolley added the couple’s 3-year-old granddaughter, who was uninjured, also told police her grandfather had shot her grandmother.

A neighbor, who witnessed what she said seemed to be a scuffle in the Johnson’s front yard Saturday night, said she heard Linda Johnson say “You’re not going to hurt anybody, I’ll hurt you.”

The neighbor then went inside to put her son to bed and said she heard four gunshots and called police.

She said she could hear the victim calling for help and the child calling for her grandmother.

Lolley said evidence pointed toward a disagreement between the Johnsons, who he said were married in September. He said police are uncertain about the reason for the argument.

“It looked like she had packed her car to leave,” Lolley said.

Lolley added Gene Johnson “made some incriminating statements at the scene,” and Lolley said alcohol may have been involved in the incident.

Next-door neighbors Mary Ann and Louie Thomas, who have lived in their North Rawls Street home around 30 years, said Gene Johnson has been a quiet neighbor for all of those years.

“You never saw him even out in the yard,” Mary Ann Thomas said.

She said they had just gotten to know Linda Johnson in recent months as she worked in the yard and planted flowers.

“She was just a real nice person,” Thomas said.

The Thomases said they and the Johnsons had recently complained to police that another neighbor’s pit bulldogs had been threatening them. They said when they heard the shots Saturday night, they thought it was Gene Johnson or the police shooting at the dogs.

Lolley said the Johnsons’ granddaughter was turned over to the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which later placed the child with family members.