Alleged Shoplifter Charged with Murder of Man Killed in High-Speed Chase

Alleged Shoplifter Charged with Murder of Man Killed in High-Speed Chase
Jackson PD

A Mississippi man has been formally charged with murder after engaging in a high-speed chase with police that ended in a head-on wreck that killed a man earlier this week.

On March 21, Police in Jackson were chasing 28-year-old Donnell Johnson after a local Walmart called them to apprehend him for shoplifting from the electronics department.

Johnson was chased for about seven miles before he crossed into an oncoming lane and crashed head-on into a car driven by 34-year-old Lonnie Blue Jr. Mr. Blue was killed, and Johnson’s car soon caught fire, forcing police to act quickly to pull the accused shoplifter’s passengers out of his car.

The fleeing driver and his passengers, Ashley Travis, 23, and James Williams, 35, were already charged with shoplifting, but now prosecutors are leveling murder charges against Johnson as well.

Johnson was hit with second degree murder charges and had his request for bond denied.

The murder victim, Lonnie Blue, was the father of an 8-year-old child and worked at a nearby Nissan plant.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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