The Alameda County, California, Sheriff’s Department has a strange case on their hands that involves a high ranking police officer.
Investigators say that Sonoma State University Police Chief Nathan Johnson got into a heated verbal altercation that turned violent. Johnson was fighting with his stepson, Elijah Latimer, 20, at the home they shared. During the fight, Johnson picked up a power drill and began using it on his stepson, puncturing his chest multiple times.
But Johnson was not finished, he then took his gun and fired what he described as a warning shot. When police arrived, Latimer was transported to the hospital with multiple stab wounds and a punctured lung. Johnson fared far better and was only treated for a minor cut on his head. Surprisingly, there were no arrests made and neither Johnson nor his stepson wished to press charges. There was an unidentified individual also in the home and that person refused to give a statement to police. The sheriff’s department is calling it a mutual combat situation and a spokesman stated: “We’ve got a ton of conflicting stories, so it’s kind of hard to sort everything out. They had some sort of an argument, we know that, but how it escalated into a stabbing with a drill and gunplay is the million-dollar question.”
Johnson has 35 years of law enforcement experience, including more than three years as chief law enforcement officer for the entire California State University System. He has also served as president of the Sonoma County Chiefs Association and chairman of the Statewide Emergency Preparedness Task Force. Johnson was recognized for his work as a volunteer in New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and has received awards for valor from the California attorney general’s office and the CSU Police Chiefs Association.
