Deputy Sheriff Bradley Johnson
Officer: Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Sheriff Bradley Steven Henry Johnson
Date: 6/30/2022 Location: Bibb County, AL FACTORS (1,2,4,8,15,21)
Perpetrator(s) Involved: Austin Patrick Hall
Criminal Activity History/Involved: Yes, Hall “has been arrested on 46 criminal charges since he was 17,” including assaulting a police officer, second-degree receiving stolen property, reckless endangerment, second-degree assault, certain persons prohibited from carrying a firearm, drug possession, resisting arrest, attempting to elude and third-degree burglary. / Yes, Hall was driving a stolen vehicle.
Mental Illness: Hall was described as “apparently mentally ill” by Mayor Mike Oakley.
Substance Abuse History/Involved: Hall has previous arrests for drug possession. / None stated.
Race/Sex/Age: White/Male/26
What prompted the initial contact with the killer? At around 5 p.m. on June 29, 2022, Bibb County Deputy Sheriff’s Brad Johnson and Chris Poole conducted a traffic stop on Austin Hall after observing him driving a stolen vehicle.
Actions taken by subject toward police: Hall refused to cooperate with the deputies, instead shooting them both with a handgun as they pursued him. Deputy Poole was seriously injured but Deputy Johnson was shot in the brain and would be declared dead the next day. Hall fled the scene and a multi-jurisdictional manhunt ensued.
Reactions by the police: With the help of a tip, law enforcement officers found Hall and arrested him by 7:35 a.m. the next morning.
How murdered? Deputy Johnson was shot while engaged in a vehicle pursuit of a suspected car thief.
What could have been done differently for the officer to still be alive? The deputies acted properly; it was the criminal justice system that failed to. In 2018 Hall was sentenced to prison for 9 years, 9 months. Despite Hall temporarily escaping in 2019 while on work release, he was “awarded correctional incentive time” thereby ending his sentence after serving less than four years and was released April 8, 2022. If Hall had remained in prison for his full sentence, Deputy Johnson would still be alive. As Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said, “Alabama’s Correctional Incentive Time laws are broken.”
Would the officer have been justified to use deadly force before being murdered? NA, the deputies were shot at during a car pursuit before they had a chance to use deadly force.
Outcome for the cop-killer: When officers tracked Hall down to the tent he was hiding in, he yelled out that he was unarmed, surrendered, and was arrested without incident.
Miscellaneous: Within a month of being released years early from his prison sentence, Hall was arrested for assaulting a police officer and illegally possessing a firearm – charges which he was bonded out for and set free to continue wreaking havoc until his trial.
