Up to 4 years in jail for man guilty of opening fire on 2 women in ’21

SPRINGFIELD — A man accused of opening fire on two women at odds with his father pleaded guilty to several criminal charges Tuesday, including assault with a dangerous weapon and cocaine trafficking.

Daquan Johnson, now 29, admitted to firing 14 shots with a 9 mm handgun at the women in the middle of the afternoon on Alsace Street in the city's Forest Park neighborhood. The incident occurred on May 20, 2021, at 2:15 p.m.

Neither woman was wounded by the gunfire, and they fled down the street on foot, according to Hampden Assistant District Attorney Anna Lusardi. Johnson tendered his pleas during a hearing Tuesday morning before Superior Court Judge Deepika Bains Shukla.

Johnson also fled the scene, the prosecutor said. When the police arrived, they found him hiding in a small laundry room in a nearby house.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop attempted murder charges and reduce the amount of drugs for which he was charged. He was sentenced to three to four years in prison, but was not immediately remanded.

The brazen midday shooting followed a domestic dispute involving one of the women, who had come to the Johnson home to retrieve some things, including her cellphone, Lusardi said.

"She banged on a window so hard she broke it," Lusardi said, adding that the woman also threatened to call police if the elder Johnson didn't hand over her belongings.

That's when Daquan Johnson emerged from a car, firing at the women sitting in their car as he approached them.

Police found the women's car pocked with bullet holes. And when they searched Daquan Johnson's car, they discovered bags full of powder and crack cocaine in a Louis Vuitton satchel, a duffle bag and in the car's center console, Lusardi said.

Police also spotted a drink and a food bag from Chick-fil-A, both marked with labels that read "Daquan J."

Defense attorney Nikolas Andreopoulos told Shukla his client was abusing alcohol and cannabis at the time of the incident.

"If there wasn't drug and alcohol abuse on that day, we may not be here," Andreopoulos said.

With Daquan Johnson's young son sitting in a hallway outside the courtroom, the defense lawyer requested that his formal sentencing be stayed until Jan. 7.

Shukla allowed the request.

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