In the spring of 2019, a burst of violence on a Syracuse street led to the death of 43-year-old Shondell Days, a male resident of the city. The incident that sealed his fate occurred on May 21st, on the 100 block of West Lafayette Avenue, where the sound of multiple gunshots shattered the day. In the immediate aftermath, Days was privately transported to Upstate University Hospital, clinging to life with critical injuries.
For four days, medical personnel fought to save him, but his wounds proved too severe. On May 25, 2019, Shondell Days succumbed to his injuries, and an investigation into his shooting was officially reclassified as a homicide.
The Syracuse Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division undertook a thorough and determined inquiry into the killing. Their efforts quickly bore fruit, leading them to a single suspect: 42-year-old Ernest Johnson. Just six days after Days’s death, on May 31, 2019, Johnson was taken into custody. The evidence gathered by detectives, which included eyewitness testimony and forensic analysis of the crime scene, was substantial enough to bring serious charges against him. Johnson was formally accused of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He was subsequently held at the Onondaga County Justice Center as the legal process began to unfold.
The case against Ernest Johnson moved steadily through the court system, drawing the attention of a community seeking justice for the violent loss of one of its own. As the trial approached in June 2022, a significant development emerged. Prosecutors in Onondaga County discovered evidence of a possible motive, unearthing a connection that both Johnson and Shondell Days had to the same woman. Before a judge could rule on whether this new evidence would be admissible in court, Ernest Johnson chose to accept a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to the charge of second-degree murder. Following his plea, he was sentenced to a term of 20 years to life in state prison. In a later civil matter, an appellate court ruled that a $28,000 workers' compensation settlement Johnson had received could be seized under the state's 'Son of Sam Law' to be converted into crime victim funds for a relative of Shondell Days.
