In Released 911 Calls, Deceased Teen's Siblings Claim He Was Armed and Dangerous: Listen Here

In a string of freshly released 911 dispatch tapes, the siblings of Trevon Johnson, a possibly mentally handicapped teen who was shot and killed by a DuPage County deputy late Sunday night, tell cops their brother was not only violent that night — he was armed, too.

Johnson’s family’s attorney, Larry Rogers Jr., expressed disappointment earlier this week that the county sheriff’s department was releasing information about the case without concrete evidence, like call recordings. Rogers, alongside several other family members, was adamant Johnson wasn’t armed when he was shot. After a Freedom of Information Act request was issued, 911 calls were released.

According to police reports, a DuPage deputy arrived at 17 W. 747 Standish Land just before midnight Jan. 1 to respond to a domestic violence complaint. Upon arrival, the officer, who was alone, said he believed Johnson was armed with a knife. He then proceeded to fire multiple shots — Johnson’s official cause of death, according to the county coroner.

In an emergency call, a man who identified himself as Robert, Johnson’s older brother, said Johnson was “going crazy.”

“He’s breaking stuff,” he told the dispatcher. “He was throwing glass.”

When asked if there were any weapons in the home, Robert said Johnson had been picking up knives, glass and bottles.

“Does he have any knives with him right now?” the dispatcher asked on the phone.

“I think so,” Robert said.

Another call was placed by Johnson’s sister, who refused to provide any information about herself to the dispatcher on the line. For the duration of the 11-minute call, she seemed frustrated that police weren’t showing up more quickly and told the dispatcher she would only tell them her name and information when cops pulled up to her door.

The sister placed the initial 911 call, according to reports, because her brother was acting violently toward her, triggering the domestic violence complaint.

For the first several minutes of the call, static and screams were all that could be heard.

“Hello?” the dispatcher asked, continually, before getting a response.

“He needs to go,” Johnson’s sister started. “He needs to go to jail now. And I’m pressing charges. And I want a restraining order.”

“Who is this, ma’am?”

She ignores the question.

“My hair, my braids, they’re all over the floor,” she continued. “He put his hands on me.”

Johnson’s sister also said Johnson had been breaking glass and that he threw the family’s Christmas tree into their TV.

“It’s over,” she said. “He needs to go to jail now.”

She was able to describe what Johnson was wearing at the time — a blue jogging suit — and where he was — upstairs — before she collapsed into tears on the phone.

“He pulled out all my braids,” she repeated. She said she was cut and bleeding. The dispatcher promised her an ambulance.

The officer on the other line continued to press Johnson’s sister for details about the situation, asking again about the possibility of weapons in the home.

“Yeah, he has a whole bunch of weapons,” she responded.

“What kind of weapons?”

“Knives,” she said. “He picks up stuff in the house, whatever he sees.”

The dispatcher asked her if Johnson had any guns.

“No,” she said, but he’d probably go get one.

In another call, Robert described the knife Johnson was carrying as large, maybe a carving knife. In a third call, a woman who identified herself only as “Trina” dismissed those claims.

“It was a butter knife,” she told the dispatcher. “It’s in the kitchen (now).”

She said the family didn’t even own a large kitchen knife.

Robert said Johnson was in his grandmother’s room at the time of his call and that there were six or seven other people in the house at the time.

On both of Johnson’s siblings’ 911 calls, screaming was the prevalent background noise. Nothing got as loud, though, as the ends of those calls.

Johnson’s sister stopped responding after the dispatcher told her he’d send an ambulance her way. Her cries were the only sounds left on the line.

Four short, piercing sounds could be heard then — possible gunshots.

Johnson’s sister wailed and screamed uncontrollably through the end of the call, the dispatcher unable to talk to her further.

On his line, Robert told the 911 dispatcher the police had arrived at his home. Panicked, he said someone was shooting. His sister could be heard screaming in the background.

“What happened? What happened?” he yelled toward the screams, and quickly abandoned the call.

Both lines were left dead.

Johnson was transported to Elmhurst Hospital after the shooting and pronounced dead there.

Listen to the three 911 calls, courtesy of the sheriff's department, below.

--

Image via Shutterstock