Joshua Colton Johnson, 32, the man shot by Aiken County deputies in July after exhibiting erratic behavior outside J.D. Lever Elementary School, is now being held in the Richmond County Jail.
Johnson was arrested last Wednesday on a SLED warrant, likely related to his conduct on July 25. He is awaiting extradition to South Carolina, authorities said..
On July 25, Johnson reportedly began stripping his clothes outside the Aiken school, which led to a confrontation with deputies and ultimately resulted in his shooting. This incident triggered a school lockdown just minutes before students were set to be released and prompted a significant police response.
Johnson was initially rushed to a local hospital, but the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office handed the investigation over to SLED. Neither the sheriff’s office nor SLED has disclosed Johnson’s condition or whether he was ever discharged from the hospital.
But the suspect was apparently released and arrested by Richmond County deputies on Aug. 28, and he is being held at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center on SLED warrants related to the altercation with deputies. His listed address is on Summerhill Road in North Augusta.
According to previous reporting, the suspect was first seen around 2 p.m. on July 25 when the sheriff’s office received a report of a suspect acting erratically on Columbia Highway North near Beaver Dam Road in Aiken. Deputies found the man in front of the school, where he was taking off his clothes.
During the interaction between the man and two deputies, the suspect began fighting in a long back-and-forth battle, according to SLED. During the altercation, deputies deployed Tasers, but they were not effective.
At one point, one of the deputies was knocked to the ground and injured, and the suspect was shot, authorities said. Another deputy suffered minor injuries.
Previously, Johnson had been involved in several notable incidents. On February 2021, he was pulled over in Aiken for a defective tag light and discovered to have outstanding warrants for assault and battery.
During this encounter, he resisted arrest, and a subsequent search revealed a firearm with an altered serial number and a small amount of methamphetamine.
In 2020, Johnson was recorded on video attacking a traffic director and threatening violence. More recently, in February 2023, he was accused of assaulting a friend and stealing his car, wallet, and phone. Though arrested and briefly jailed, the robbery charge was dismissed in June after prosecutors failed to secure an indictment.
Johnson has a history of arrests for resisting arrest, DUI, and assault in the CSRA.
