Keiana Johnson was a 19-year-old Black woman remembered by those who knew her as outgoing, smart, and lovable. A student at Alabama State University, her life was full of promise when it was tragically cut short in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, in the spring of 2021.
On the afternoon of May 27, 2021, a shooting erupted in the city’s Sheridan Heights community.
Around 4:30 p.m., police and medics were dispatched to the 3500 block of Faro Court, where they discovered Keiana suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. She was rushed to a local hospital but ultimately succumbed to her injuries. About twenty minutes later, another woman arrived at a hospital by private vehicle; she had also been shot on Faro Court but sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The Montgomery Police Department launched a homicide investigation that quickly led to a suspect. On June 1, 2021, authorities arrested 20-year-old Jef'Daysha Woods and charged her with one count of murder. A court affidavit stated that investigators believed Woods had intentionally shot Keiana in the back. Woods was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Facility and later released on a $150,000 bond.
The case against Woods took several turns over the following years. Later in June 2021, the murder charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence. The case remained unresolved for nearly two years until May 2023, when a Montgomery County grand jury reviewed the evidence and returned an indictment, once again charging Woods with murder for intentionally causing Keiana's death by shooting her with a firearm.
The legal proceedings concluded more than four years after the shooting. On August 11, 2025, Jef'Daysha Woods, then 24 years old, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter. The case was officially closed with her plea in August 2025.
