Do you know who murdered 16 year old Janaija Johnson in 2020? Janaija Johnson, a 16-year-old Black female from Wilmington, Delaware, was killed in the early morning hours of April 7, 2020, after gunfire broke out in the area of the 200 block of North Madison Street. Police were called around 4:50 a.m. and found her suffering from a gunshot wound. Some reports placed her near 6th and Van Buren Streets, with one account stating she was in a car when she was shot.
She was taken to a local hospital, but she did not survive.
Known to family and friends as “Naij,” Ja'naija Lanea Johnson had been born in Wilmington on September 18, 2003. Her obituary described her as a student at Concord High School who had earlier attended Eastside Charter School and had worked in a summer youth program with the State of Delaware. It remembered her as stylish, bright, and full of personality, someone who loved fashion, hairstyles, music, track, and whose smile and dimples stood out to the people who knew her.
The public details released after the shooting were limited. Investigators did not announce a motive in the immediate aftermath, and no suspect description was released in the early reports. The case later remained active as an unsolved homicide, with Wilmington police continuing to ask the public for information.
By 2022, the Wilmington Police Department's Cold Case Unit was still seeking leads in Janaija's death. Available online reports do not show that any arrest has been made, and they do not identify any named suspect, charges, trial, plea, or conviction connected to her killing. Police continued to direct tips to Detective Brianna Rodrigues, the Cold Case Unit, and Delaware Crime Stoppers, indicating that investigators were still looking for the information needed to move the case forward.
