Published: July 08, 2009 08:24 am      

Alleged sex offender fires gun before arrest

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Knowing that the man they went to arrest Monday night had the reputation of keeping a firearm close at hand, London police officers began developing their strategy Saturday morning.

At about 7 p.m. Monday, after making sure search and arrest warrants and other paperwork had been secured and signed, a team of eight officers quietly surveyed the Hampton Road home of Bill W. Johnson, 65.

Investigation of Johnson began after a complaint came in at about 1 a.m. Saturday, claiming that he had sexually abused a child, said Lt. Stewart Walker.

The alleged victim told police Johnson kept a handgun nearby at all times, said Walker.

At about 8:40 p.m. after knowing the layout of the land around the home and spotting places where they could take cover if gunfire should begin, Walker, Lt. Derek House, Detectives Russell Baker and Blaine Inman, Sgts. Travis Hurley and Alan Harris and Officers Eric Wilkerson and Jeremy Shell began deploying themselves.

Several of the police officers began walking across the lawn approaching the house.

While they were walking, Walker said, about every five to ten minutes they identified themselves as police officers.

As they stood their ground, said Walker, Johnson yelled, “What do you want?”

Again, they identified themselves.

Those announcements were met with silence.

Walker said the team began trying to reach Johnson by telephone.

He apparently ignored the calls, Walker said.

By now the lawmen, holding their ground, but behind cover, began discussing how to surround the home, he said.

Harris had taken a point behind a tree on the southwest corner of the property, House and Walker were on the southeast corner behind a vehicle.

Inman was at the front of the vehicle.

Hurley and Wilkerson went to the front porch of the home, pounded on the door and identified themselves as police officers, Walker said.

At about 10:15 p.m., a single shot, from what turned out to be a .38-calibre handgun, rang out from the home in the direction of House, Walker and Harris, Walker said.

At 10:20 p.m., from his place of cover, Walker called for the department’s third and first shift officers to come as reinforcements and to cover other police activity in the city, he said.

By then, Johnson’s grandson had come to the site and began trying to contact Johnson by telephone.

Johnson answered and told his grandson he would be out in “12 or 15 minutes,” Walker said.

Eventually, the porch light came on. At about 11 p.m., Johnson appeared on the front porch and was arrested without incident, Walker said.

Johnson was arraigned Tuesday morning and is being held on a $100,000 bond. He was charged with three counts of third degree wanton endangerment, first degree sodomy of a child and third degree using a child in a sexual performance.