In the late hours of a Wednesday evening in December 2011, a house party on Trotters Way Drive in Snellville, a suburb in Gwinnett County, was filled with the energy of dozens of college-aged attendees. The gathering, which was supposed to be a festive occasion among friends, soon took a dark and violent turn. According to accounts from those present, the atmosphere shifted when uninvited guests arrived, leading to a series of confrontations that would ultimately end in tragedy.
Twenty-year-old Corey Johnson, a male who had attended Shiloh High School and was a recent enrollee at the Everest Institute with plans to study engineering, found himself in the midst of this escalating tension.
As the night progressed, a fight broke out, reportedly between two young women, which then escalated. Witnesses, including friends of Corey, described a chaotic scene where a male individual, later identified as Damien Kinard Reddick, became aggressive, punching a female and then brandishing a handgun, which he pointed at one of Corey's friends. In an act of courage, Corey Johnson intervened, attempting to de-escalate the situation and protect those around him. He punched the armed man, causing him to fall. In the ensuing panic, partygoers began to flee, and Corey was among those running for safety in the backyard. It was in this moment of chaos that Reddick, having gotten back to his feet, fired his weapon, striking Corey in the back. The single gunshot proved to be fatal for the young man who was just weeks away from his twenty-first birthday.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Gwinnett County police detectives began an intensive investigation. Drawing on cooperative witness statements, they were able to quickly identify a suspect. Two days after the fatal shooting, Damien Kinard Reddick, a 19-year-old from the nearby city of Lithonia in DeKalb County, was arrested. He was subsequently charged with murder and aggravated assault for his role in the death of Corey Johnson. Following his arrest, Reddick was booked into the Gwinnett County jail where he was held without bond. The swift arrest brought a small measure of closure to a community shaken by the senseless violence that had claimed the life of a young man described by his mother as someone who was trying to do the right thing.
