By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE father of a teen boy shot dead by police last week said he sat with his son for nearly two hours, begging him to change his life a day before the fatal incident.

Elron Johnson, 17, was killed by an off-duty officer during an alleged attempted armed robbery at the Double Dragon restaurant on Deveaux and East Bay Street on Thursday night. 

Police said shortly before 10pm, two men, one armed with a firearm, entered the establishment and demanded cash.  

When an off-duty officer identified himself as police, the suspect allegedly fired at him, prompting an exchange of gunshots that resulted in the suspect being shot.

Johnson was taken to the hospital where he later died. 

His father, Ashley Johnson, said he had pleaded with his son to turn his life around the night before he was killed. 

 He said his son was on bail for robbery and was scheduled to return to court later this year for trial. According to Mr Johnson, his son leaves behind a child and a pregnant girlfriend.

 “Elron was hard-headed, but even though I used to sit down and talk with him, he still tried to do his own thing,” Mr Johnson said. “He does sleep by me and the day before, I sit down with him almost like two hours and me and him just sit down and I told him that this is not worth it.” 

 “He said yeah, he understands why I saying that, but push comes to shove, I end up hearing all of this garbage.” 

 Mr Johnson said he didn’t find out about his son’s death until the next day –– just days before Father’s Day.  

 He couldn’t say whether he accepted the police’s version of what happened.

 “The neighbours had to call me and ask me if I hear what happened,” he recalled. “I asked them, ‘what you mean what happened?’ They say my son get killed and I said who? I said muddasick. I almost fall out.” 

 “I could see if they say shoot him in the leg to make sure he couldn’t run or nothing but to shoot him to kill him? No, I couldn’t believe that. I consider them wrong.”  

 Johnson’s mother, Relinda Johnson, said her son was a “bubbly person” with a bright future.

 “I still don’t want to accept the fact that my baby gone,” she said.    

 She said it wasn’t until Johnson moved to Kemp Road with his father that he started getting into problems. 

“Elron spent the majority of his time growing up in Fox Hill,” she said. “Elron moved to Kemp Road a year ago and that’s when everything started to change when I sent him by his daddy to try get close to his daddy.” 

 “In Fox Hill, he was never in no gang. He was never in no police hand until last year September when he started to rebel.” 

 She said Johnson would have graduated high school this year had he not dropped out. 

“We was looking forward to it,” she said. “His goal was to go to college but all of that changed when he dropped out of school. Now my child is dead. It’s because of the friends he keeps.”