Do you know who killed Berner Johnson in 2019? Berner Richard Johnson III, a 48-year-old man known to his friends and family as 'Bud,' died in May 2019 following a physical altercation in Washington, D.C. A longtime employee of the Senate and a beloved youth baseball coach on Capitol Hill, Johnson's death was the result of a dispute that began inside a restaurant and spilled out into the street.
The incident occurred on the evening of May 15, 2019, in the Navy Yard neighborhood, near the Scarlet Oak restaurant and bar, a place
Johnson frequented. An argument that started inside the establishment escalated into a physical confrontation outside with a group of individuals. During the altercation, Johnson sustained severe head trauma. Police and paramedics were called to the scene in the 100 block of K Street SE and worked to revive him before he was transported to a local hospital.
After four days in intensive care, Berner Johnson succumbed to his injuries on May 19, 2019. In the immediate aftermath, the incident was classified as an aggravated assault, and police began an investigation. Family members were informed by authorities that they had identified the other people involved in the altercation. Months later, in August 2019, the medical examiner's office officially ruled Johnson's death a homicide, citing blunt force injuries to the head as the cause, with ethanol intoxication as a contributing factor.
Despite the homicide ruling, the investigation continued for several more months. Ultimately, in December 2019, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia concluded its investigation and ruled the death of Berner Johnson to be a justified homicide. Authorities stated they had difficulty determining the aggressor in the incident. As a result of this determination, no charges were filed against any of the individuals involved in the altercation, and no arrests were made.
