A 55-year-old San Diego woman was arrested, suspected of fatally shooting her husband and 14-year-old daughter, possibly last week, then staying home with the bodies for three days.
San Diego police identified the suspect as Regina Renee Johnson. Police have not released the identities of the victims, but family members identified them to U-T San Diego as 56-year-old Reuben Johnson and 14-year-old Aaliyah Johnson, the newspaper reported.
“It’s like we can’t wake up from this nightmare,” Deborah Spinner, a sister of Reuben Johnson’s who lives in Altamonte Springs, Fla. “There are so many questions. Why, why would you do this to Aaliyah? She was a child.”
A motive for the killings, if known, has not been disclosed. Jay Ojeda was a neighbor of the Johnson family on the second floor of the condo complex. “[I’m] extremely shocked to think of the word ‘double homicide’ and associate it with where we live,” said Ojeda. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Ojeda and other neighbors described the family as quiet. Neighbor Ann Case said it appeared the father and daughter were close. “She was real quiet,” said Case. “She’s real shy and her dad was shy too, but they seemed to talk to each other.”
Reuben Johnson served in the Navy for 20 years, retiring in 2009 as a chief petty officer. He was working as a security guard, Spinner said.
Neighbor Richard Legerretta said Ruben Johnson was very proud of his Cadillac and his motorcycle.
“We parked next to each other in the garage… [He was a] pretty casual, nice guy,” said Legerretta. “He was a really nice person.”
Aaliyah, his youngest daughter, was a cheerleader and also was a child model who was featured in a circular for a department store, said Spinner.
“It’s our belief that the victims were killed sometime Wednesday morning and the suspect remained in the (home) the entire time,” San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney said. Regina Johnson had called a relative in another state and mentioned that her husband and daughter were dead. That relative then reported the deaths.
Regina Johnson had recently been laid off from her job at a financial services company. She is being held in the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder. She is scheduled to be arraigned next Wednesday.
via BlackMediaScoop
