Roy Exum: Jumoke’s Thuggery Ends

  • Sunday, January 22, 2017
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

Jumoke Johnson, the most notorious criminal in Chattanooga’s recent history, was killed by a rain of bullets in the 2100 block of East 12th Street at little after 8 o’clock Friday night and for the many of us who have kept up with the 23-year-old, you wonder how he ever lasted this long. He was aptly proclaimed as the “most dangerous man” to ever have been sentenced in Chattanooga’s federal court in January of 2014. He served 180 days in the county workhouse and, just six months later, was sentenced to 65 more months on a separate drug conspiracy

Last week, he shed himself of an ankle monitor at a McCallie Avenue halfway house and escaped.

Jumoke, a validated gang member at Brainerd High and now believed to be a ruthless leader in the Rollin’ 60 Crips, was with a fellow gang member, 20-year-old Christopher Woodard, when the car they were in was overtaken by unknown gunmen and both were savagely shot to death. Woodard was out of jail after posting bond on robbery charges.

In the spring of 2012, a Times Free Press reporter did an in-depth story on Jumoke, stating he was the first family member in three generations to graduate from high school. Yet by the time he graduated, the police claim he had already cast a wide wall of terror that included shooting a rival gang member in the back of his head, execution style.

A lot of good people tried to help Johnson, who hardly had helped himself with eleven counts ranging from drug deals, intimidation of witnesses, domestic violence, assaults … he even kidnapped his own baby.

Chattanooga Police officer Todd Royval was one who caught on to Jumoke early. “He’s very dangerous, very smart and has the gifts to get people to do anything he says.” Royval knew other gangs wanted Jumoke killed in high school and – don’t let the graduation robe fool you – he was a “person of interest” in several shootings. “They ain’t caught me with no gun … ain’t caught me with no dope,” he would say but every cop on the force knew all about him.

An anonymous benefactor was sold by the newspaper story, so much they offered to pay the way for Johnson to get a college degree, but within the first semester he was back on the Chattanooga streets.

Johnson’s father, a known drug dealer, was doing time when Jumoke graduated from Brainerd and Jumoke was candid with the newspaper reporter. “My dad had a lot of kids (Jumoke is the oldest of 10) and it was time for me to step up … shoes, haircuts,” he used the excuse of why he quit college, “so I needed to step up, be the man.”

Yet he had been unable to get any kind of job after he was arrested as a suspect in a drive-by shooting at age 16. At age 20 his picture was on the front page again as one of the “Worst Of The Worst” and soon he was caught in a cocaine conspiracy that netted him 65 months. How he was already out of jail after 24 months when he was shot is a legal question.

At the time of his sentencing in January 2015, Assistant U.S. attorney Chris Poole told Judge Sandy Mattice, “I think he’s the most dangerous person that you have sentenced in this courtroom."

Judge Mattice reminded Poole, "You realize that I have sentenced murderers in this courtroom?" to which Poole relied, “You're sentencing a murderer today.”

royexum@aol.com

Jumoke Johnson
Jumoke Johnson
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