Dawson Bostic, a 21-year-old Black male, was fatally shot on February 3, 2025, in Grant, Oklahoma, a small community in Choctaw County. Earlier that afternoon, Bostic had been spending time with his longtime friend Rickey “Pharo” Johnson. According to Bostic’s aunt, the two had been playing games on Bostic’s PlayStation before leaving together at approximately 3:45 p.m. She said the two had known each other since childhood and that seeing them together that day had not seemed unusual.
Bostic told his aunt he would be back before the two drove away.
Roughly an hour later, a shooting was reported in the area of North Ervin Street and East Locust Avenue in Grant. Court records described a witness hearing a gunshot and then seeing Johnson walking away from an overgrown lot. The woman attempted to speak with him, but according to the court documents, he ignored her and drove away. Her children reportedly had seen two men walk toward the overgrown area and then saw only one of them come back. When the woman went to investigate, she discovered Bostic suffering from a gunshot wound.
Choctaw County sheriff’s deputies responded at approximately 5 p.m. and began emergency life-saving measures. Bostic was transported across the state line to a hospital in Paris, Texas, where he died from his injuries. His aunt later told reporters that he had been shot in the head. The Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which took a leading role in investigating the killing with assistance from local and regional law-enforcement agencies.
Attention quickly turned to Johnson, who had been with Bostic shortly before the shooting. According to information contained in court documents, Johnson told investigators that he and Bostic had initially been driving toward Texas. Johnson reportedly said he asked Bostic to turn around because the conditions of his probation prohibited him from leaving Oklahoma. He claimed Bostic then wanted to visit a casino while he did not. According to Johnson’s account, Bostic stopped at a casino in Grant and got out, after which Johnson took Bostic’s vehicle and drove away. Investigators reported that Johnson stopped answering questions when they began asking him specifically about the shooting.
The witness account placed Johnson walking away from the area where Bostic was subsequently discovered, and investigators developed additional evidence that led OSBI agents to identify Johnson as the suspect. Johnson, a Hugo resident, was arrested and booked into the Choctaw County Jail shortly after the killing. The Choctaw County District Attorney’s Office subsequently filed a charge of first-degree murder with deliberate intent against Rickey Romaine Johnson on February 10, 2025. His bond was denied during the early stages of the criminal case.
The killing devastated Bostic’s family and those who knew him in Choctaw County. Relatives remembered him as a talented basketball player who had attended Seminole State College before becoming a welder. His obituary described him as a lifelong Hugo resident and Hugo High School graduate who enjoyed basketball and singing and had participated in the Hugo Show Choir. Family members described someone who cared deeply about relatives and friends and who took pleasure in making other people happy.
The prosecution against Johnson did not immediately proceed to trial. Court records later showed that the case was placed on hold after his attorneys requested a mental-health evaluation to determine whether he was legally competent to proceed with the criminal case. By April 2026, that issue had been resolved: Choctaw County Sheriff Terry Park reported that the court had found Johnson competent to stand trial. Johnson was returned to the Choctaw County Jail on April 2, 2026, with the first-degree murder charge still pending.
As of the most recent publicly available information located, Johnson remained charged with first-degree murder with deliberate intent in Bostic’s death. The Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office continued to list him in custody on that charge after the competency determination. No publicly reported conviction or final disposition was located in the available online reporting, meaning the murder allegation against Johnson remained an accusation pending resolution in court.
