On a cold February night in 2015, the life of 15-year-old Jacquil TyQuon Harris was cut short in Norfolk, Virginia. The young Black / African American male was inside a home on Wilson Road just before midnight on February 23rd when he was fatally shot. Police responded to a 9-1-1 call about a gunshot victim and found Harris, who resided on Chapel Street in Tidewater Gardens, deceased at the scene from a single gunshot wound to his upper left chest.
The investigation into the death of
Jacquil Harris moved swiftly. The very next day, the Norfolk Police Fugitive Squad, with assistance from the U.S. Marshal's Task Force, apprehended 18-year-old Michael Johnson, also of Norfolk. Johnson was taken into custody without incident in the 900 block of Goff Street and subsequently charged with second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The motive behind the tragic shooting was revealed to be a dispute over a cellphone. Court documents indicated that Johnson, whose full name is Michael Mortez Tyson-Johnson, claimed that Harris had previously robbed him at gunpoint, taking his phone. On the night of the fatal encounter, Tyson-Johnson confronted Harris at the Wilson Road house and demanded his phone back. When Harris refused, Tyson-Johnson left, acquired a gun from a friend, and returned to confront Harris again. This second confrontation escalated, leading to Tyson-Johnson shooting Harris.
During the court proceedings, the prosecution argued that Tyson-Johnson's actions were not born out of fear but were a conscious decision to protect his street credibility after feeling disrespected in front of friends. The defense, however, painted a different picture, portraying Tyson-Johnson as a young man with no prior criminal history who was scared and felt threatened by Harris. Ultimately, Michael Mortez Tyson-Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and the use of a firearm to commit a felony. At the age of 20, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison, with 10 of those years suspended, resulting in a 16-year prison term for the killing of Jacquil TyQuon Harris.
