More on officer-involved Coolin shooting released

September 29, 2017

Idaho State Police public information officer Tim Marsano today released additional information on the fatal officer-involved shooting that took place Tuesday morning, September 26, in Coolin. On Sunday night, September 24, Robin Johnson, the wife of Craig Johnson (the deceased), called the Bonner County Sheriff's office and requested a deputy travel to their residence in Coolin for a welfare check on her husband. Robin Johnson, who was not at the home, had been trying to contact her husband and he was not returning her phone calls. She was worried and requested law enforcement contact him to make sure he was okay. At approximately 11:54 p.m., a deputy responded to their Coolin residence for the welfare check. Craig Johnson, 50, immediately confronted the deputy by pointing a handgun at him and threatening him. The deputy sought cover behind his vehicle until he was able to safely retreat and leave the property. A $30,000 felony warrant on a charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer was subsequently issued for Mr. Johnson's arrest. The Bonner County Sheriff's Office conducted the service of the warrant on Tuesday morning, September 26. During negotiations with Mr. Johnson via telephone and a police vehicle public address system, Craig Johnson exited his residence with a loaded handgun and confronted deputies by pointing a handgun at them, forcing them to respond with deadly force. Deputies at the scene immediately rendered first aid to Johnson. By standard operating procedure, an ambulance had been staged nearby and it responded to the scene, arriving within a few minutes. Mr. Johnson was transported by ambulance to a life flight landing zone, but he succumbed to his wounds en route to the landing zone. The deputies involved were not injured. They have been placed on paid administrative leave, per standard protocol, pending the North Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigation's outcome. The deputy who shot Craig Johnson is identified as Sergeant Shawn Deem, who has been with Bonner County Sheriff's Office for eight and a half years.