On a summer evening on July 5, 2019, a festive pool party at the Glen Burnie Park Swim Club in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, turned into a scene of violence that claimed the life of 29-year-old James Antonio Diggs IV of Gwynn Oak. The event, attended by approximately 300 people, was shattered around 11:15 p.m. by the sound of gunfire. Responding officers discovered Diggs with gunshot wounds.
He was rushed to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. Two other individuals, a 21-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, also sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting.
The investigation into the shooting quickly pointed to an altercation that preceded the violence. According to witness testimony, Jacovi Devaughn Johnson, 21, was driving a Nissan Altima through the party crowd when the vehicle struck Diggs. An argument ensued, during which Diggs reportedly jumped on the car and broke the windshield. In response, Johnson allegedly retrieved a handgun from the glove compartment, exited the vehicle, and opened fire. An autopsy would later reveal that Diggs suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including 'rapidly fatal' wounds to the back of his head and mid-back.
Within days, Anne Arundel County Police made two arrests in connection with the fatal shooting. Jacovi Devaughn Johnson of Glen Burnie was identified as the shooter and taken into custody on July 8, 2019, in Ocean City, Maryland. He was subsequently charged with first and second-degree murder, as well as multiple counts of assault and firearm-related offenses. A second man, 20-year-old Dion Isom Sanders, was also arrested and charged with handgun offenses after a witness reported seeing him hide a firearm in some bushes near the crime scene shortly after the shooting.
The legal proceedings that followed brought the details of that night into sharper focus. During Johnson's trial, testimony from Dion Sanders detailed the events leading up to the shooting, including the car incident and Johnson's subsequent actions. The prosecution presented evidence of multiple shots being fired, arguing that the sequence of events demonstrated premeditation. Ultimately, a jury convicted Jacovi Devaughn Johnson of first-degree murder and related offenses for the death of James Antonio Diggs IV.
