In the early moments of May 14, 2022, a dispute in South Bend, Indiana, turned deadly, claiming the life of 32-year-old Eric Johnson. The fatal encounter unfolded just after midnight in the 3700 block of W. Jefferson at the La Salle Park Homes. An argument between Johnson and another man, John Parnell Thomas, escalated into an exchange of gunfire.
Thomas had arrived at the location with his girlfriend, Annaliese Matson, in the passenger seat of his vehicle.
An eyewitness reported that both Thomas and Johnson fired at each other. Ballistic evidence suggested Thomas fired twice, while Johnson fired ten times. Johnson sustained two gunshot wounds, one of which proved fatal, striking his heart and lungs. Following the shooting, Thomas fled the scene in his car.
Tragically, the violence also claimed the life of 25-year-old Annaliese Matson, who was struck by the gunfire and died in the vehicle. Approximately seventeen minutes after leaving the scene of the initial shooting, Thomas placed a 9-1-1 call to report a woman with a gunshot wound in a car in the 1100 block of Cedar. Investigators noted that the route Thomas took was in close proximity to a hospital.
John Parnell Thomas was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of Eric Johnson. In March 2023, Thomas reached a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. As a result, he was sentenced to 20 years in connection with Johnson's death. As part of the plea agreement, charges in two other unrelated cases against Thomas were dismissed.
