Gang member accused in shooting death stalked victim outside bar, police say

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 | 9:40 p.m.

Outside a central valley tavern, about two dozen gunshots were exchanged between a man known as “Shady” and the victim, who’d returned fire in self-defense.

Michael C. Johnson’s bullets missed. His killer’s didn’t.

Shady, later identified as Jerry Fitzgerald, stands accused in the slaying, according to Metro Police. The 44-year-old gang member was arrested three days after the slaying was reported about 3:50 a.m. June 29 in the 900 block of Las Vegas Boulevard North.

Surveillance video captured the gunman walking outside the tavern and stalking the victim, who was making his way to his pickup truck, police said. After the suspect opened fire, Johnson shot back, blasting pieces off a pillar that was shielding his killer.

The suspect disappeared from the camera frame but returned accompanied by two other armed men, police said. It wasn’t clear to detectives if the other gunmen pulled the trigger.

But police allege the suspect circled around Johnson and fired more bullets from the opposite direction, police said. Johnson was found lying on landscaping and died at University Medical Center less than an hour later.

Soon after the shootout, police began to hear rumblings of a gang member known on the streets as Shady, according to Fitzgerald’s arrest warrant affidavit.

“Shady,” detectives were told, shot and killed Johnson, 48, after a disagreement between the victim and one of the suspect’s associates, police said.

Using surveillance video, his Facebook page, and the testimony of a tavern employee, police jailed Fitzgerald. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder.

On video, he appeared to be wearing an outfit he’d worn for one of his photos on his social medial account, police said.

Although three other gang members were identified as possibly being connected to the shooting, Las Vegas Justice Court records don’t seem to indicate anyone else has been formally accused in the slaying.

A witness at the bar told police they knew Fitzgerald as a regular and that he’d been there that morning. That witness, possibly afraid for his or her life, was hesitant to speak the next day.

When asked if the witness was afraid to cooperate, the person spoke about their children, a tear streaming down the person’s face, according to the report.