A criminal justice activist has been charged with murder after police found a dismembered body inside a Bronx apartment, witnesses and law enforcement officials said. Witnesses and law enforcement sources said the alleged killer was seen on surveillance cameras disguised in a blonde wig at the crime scene.
Sheldon Johnson, 48, an employee of public law firm Queen’s Defenders, was arrested Thursday at the 44th Precinct building after police made the gruesome discovery of a human torso in a blue trash can and a head hidden in a freezer. He was being held awaiting arraignment. According to officials, the incident occurred on the sixth floor of an apartment building.
Just after 8 p.m. Tuesday, just before two gunshots rang out at an apartment near Odgen Avenue and West 162nd Street, a neighbor heard the victim frantically pleading with the gunman, officials and neighbors said. person told police.
“Please don’t,” I heard my destiny say. “I have a family!”
Investigators were first called to the building for a welfare check after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots and seeing an unknown person entering and leaving the apartment with cleaning supplies, according to the building’s supervisor. That’s what it means.
“I said, listen, I want to do a health check on the tenant because the people who are coming and going are not the tenants,” the Superman told The Post on Wednesday, on condition of anonymity.
He said Johnson brought a blue trash can into the apartment at 2 a.m. but never took it out.
“He brought the trash can…I said to them, ‘Why is he bringing the trash can at 2 a.m.?’ Bringing the trash can so late,” the supermarket said. Said. “We tried to see if he took the trash can out. He never took the trash can out. I told them, look for the trash can. And sure enough, it was there. ”
The supermarket also saw the suspect get into the victim’s blue Audi and return in an Uber wearing a blonde wig.
“He comes in, he dresses differently than he normally does, he has a different personality,” he said. “I said, that’s not normal, he’s hiding something.”
He said police conducted an initial inspection of the apartment but left without arresting the suspect.
“The man was standing there,” Super said. “They took everything out of him. They searched the apartment and couldn’t find anything. They apologized and said someone had called and they had to come.”
He said Johnson then asked to speak to him.
“When I got home, I got a call from a neighbor who said a man was looking for me and wanted to talk to me,” he said. “I said, ‘I’m going to go to him and ask him what he wants and then I’m going to tell the police.’ That was the plan.”
However, before the meeting could take place, police returned and took Mr. Johnson in for questioning.
“If I was gone, I’d never know what he was going to do,” Super said. “He was trying to frame me or shoot me or do something to get rid of the camera or something.”
Tenant Jose Marquez told the Post he saw Johnson walking his small dog a few days before the murder.
“I feel like the devil crawled in here last night,” Marquez said.
Neighbors described him as “quiet” and “solitary.”
“Sometimes we are deceived by appearances. He is well dressed…he looks clean,” Marquez said. “You assume this guy has a professional career. He went to work, came back, walked his dog and went on with his personal life.”
After serving 20 years in prison for a series of armed robberies in 1999 and being released in 2019, Johnson began working as a client attorney at the Queens public defender’s office shortly after his release.
In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Johnson, who claims to have once been a member of the Bloods gang, told host Josh Dubin that he used a gun to rob several men he owed money to. He was arrested and sentenced to up to 50 years in prison. drug money.
But after spending some time in and out of solitary confinement, the convicted felon decided to “turn his life around,” and said he earned his GED while in prison. Johnson said she also took courses on deep breathing and conflict resolution during the slammer.
The Queen’s Defenders’ office did not respond to requests for comment.
The victim’s identity will not be released until family members are notified.
Officials say the deadly fight may have stemmed from a feud when both men were in prison.
