In the crisp autumn air of October 31, 2014, tragedy struck in Memphis, Tennessee, forever altering the lives of Samuel 'Mr No-Lackin' Johnson's family. The 21-year-old African American man was walking down Glenalp near Derbyshire when he was fatally shot by an occupant of a dark-colored car. Surveillance footage captured Samuel's last moments as he walked down the street, just seconds before the fatal shots were fired. His father is adamant that his son was lured to his death, having received a phone call inviting him to a Halloween party at a gym. This was not the first attempt on his life; weeks prior, Samuel had been shot in the back, suggesting a persistent and targeted campaign of violence against him. Despite ongoing investigations and public pleas from his grieving father for justice, the case remains unsolved. Memphis Police have indicated that several local gangs could be connected to the crime, but no arrests have been made, leaving a void of unanswered questions and a family's unending pain.
Just over a year later, in November 2015, another young man named Samuel Andrew Johnson lost his life to violence in the greater Memphis area. The 25-year-old was at Keeley's Entertainment Center in Ripley, Tennessee, when he was shot and killed. An investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Ripley Police Department pointed to Jessie James Somerville as the perpetrator. In October 2017, Somerville was indicted for the murder of Samuel Johnson and subsequently arrested.
On a cold December night in 2022, the cycle of violence once again claimed the life of a young man named Samuel Johnson in the Memphis area. On December 28th, in West Memphis, Arkansas, just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, 21-year-old Samuel Johnson was found lying on the ground at the intersection of Ingram Boulevard and East Barton Avenue with multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency services rushed him to the hospital, but he did not survive his injuries. Detectives, through witness interviews and surveillance footage, were able to identify suspects. Their investigation led to the arrests of 18-year-old Jotavion Ross and 15-year-old Tyler Triplett, who were both charged with Capital Murder. Another individual, Tracey Brown, was also taken into custody for hindering apprehension or prosecution in connection with the case.
In a case with ties to Memphis, a man named Samuel R. Johnson was sentenced in November 2025 for a murder that took place on Thanksgiving Day in 2019. Johnson, who was 37 at the time, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of 35-year-old Deandre Lamar Wesley in Centerville, Tennessee. Evidence from the investigation showed that Johnson had traveled from Memphis on the day of the killing. Wesley's body was discovered with two gunshot wounds to the head and neck. Johnson was arrested five months later in Arizona following an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the crime. Another man, Anthony R. Anderson, was also convicted on a lesser charge of being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to five years in prison.
