Jermaine Maurice Johnson, a 41-year-old Black / African American male from Huntington, West Virginia, was killed late on April 5, 2023, after a shooting in the 700 block of Marcum Terrace. What began that night as an emergency call for a man wounded by gunfire quickly became a homicide investigation. Huntington police said officers found Johnson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds around 11:30 p.m.
Officers gave him first aid at the scene until Cabell County EMS arrived, and he was then taken to a local hospital. Despite those efforts, Johnson died from his injuries a short time later.
In the first hours after the shooting, police were still trying to piece together exactly what had happened inside or near the Marcum Terrace apartment where the gunfire occurred. Dispatch information initially described a man shot in the ribs, but the investigation soon confirmed that Johnson had been shot multiple times. By the next day, Huntington police publicly identified him as the victim and said detectives wanted to speak with two men they believed had been present at the time of the shooting: Antonio Roland and Rafael Solomon Jr.
As the investigation moved forward, the case quickly shifted from a search for witnesses or persons of interest into a murder case with named suspects. On April 12, 2023, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Antonio J. Roland in Macomb County, Michigan. Huntington police said Roland was charged with murder in connection with Johnson’s death and was awaiting extradition back to Cabell County. At the same time, police announced that an arrest warrant had also been obtained for Rafael C. Solomon Jr., who was still being sought by investigators.
Solomon remained wanted for several weeks before he was located in Detroit by the U.S. Marshals Service Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team. He was taken into custody in Michigan and later extradited to Cabell County on May 24, 2023. Once returned to West Virginia, Solomon was booked into the Western Regional Jail and held without bond. Like Roland, he was charged with murder, with authorities accusing both men of being involved in the fatal shooting of Johnson at Marcum Terrace.
The case later reached a preliminary hearing in Cabell County Magistrate Court. Antonio Roland and Rafael Solomon Jr. both appeared as defendants, and a magistrate found probable cause to send the case to a grand jury. During that hearing, defense attorneys argued that the shooting was self-defense and claimed Johnson had come into the apartment firing shots. Huntington police Detective Jake Felix testified that Johnson had been shot several times, and he said witness statements claiming that at least three shots were fired inside the apartment were contradicted by the physical evidence found at the scene.
After the preliminary hearing, both Roland and Solomon remained held without bond while the murder charges moved toward Cabell County Circuit Court. Online reports available about the case identify Roland and Solomon as the men charged in Johnson’s killing and describe the self-defense claim raised by their attorneys, but they do not show a final trial outcome or conviction in the public news reports located. The known public record of the case centers on the April 5 shooting, Johnson’s death at the hospital, the arrests of Roland and Solomon in Michigan, and the decision to advance the murder case to a grand jury.
