On Christmas Day 2011, Jumoke Johnson Jr. sat on a bench in the Police Services Center waiting for investigators to question him about a shooting hours earlier that wounded nine people at a downtown club.
His name came up after the mass shooting, as it often did following violence. Again and again, witnesses said Jumoke was the man behind the trigger. But police could never prove it.
He was a charismatic teenager, both book smart and street smart, cool under pressure. At 18, he’d already become a gang leader, relying on his natural ability to sway others to do his bidding.
So Jumoke sat on a bench on Christmas Day, and beside him sat police officer Josh May.
They talked as they waited, about everything. Girls, the future, what they’d be doing if they weren’t at the police station. Jumoke wasn’t handcuffed. He was calm, polite, engaged, listening, asking questions.