On a Tuesday afternoon, September 13, 2022, the quiet of the 2600 block of Chickahominy Road in Toano, Virginia, was broken by the sound of a gunshot. First responders from the James City County Police and Fire Departments arrived at the scene around 1:38 p.m. to find a man suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, identified as 38-year-old Alfred Lamont Johnson, a male resident of James City County, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The investigation into the death of Alfred Lamont
Johnson, described by loved ones as a sweet and kind-hearted person, quickly pointed to a suspect. Within days, detectives from the James City County Police Department's Criminal Investigations Unit identified Lee Rondell Richardson of Newport News as a person of interest. A coordinated surveillance effort involving the Newport News Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service led to Richardson's arrest on September 22, 2022. Initially, Richardson, who was 40 years old at the time, was charged with second-degree murder and transported to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, where he was held without bond.
The legal proceedings that followed culminated in a three-day jury trial nearly three years later. On June 12, 2025, a jury found Lee Rondell Richardson, then 43, guilty of the more severe charge of first-degree murder, as well as the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Following his conviction, Richardson remained incarcerated at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail while awaiting his sentencing, which was scheduled for September 15, 2025.
