University murder victim died saving others

Youngstown, OH - As gunfire rang out and people ran for their lives, 25 year old Jamail Johnson ran toward the shooters. Johnson pushed them out of the fraternity house, potentially saving dozens more people from injury or death.

Johnson continued on, even after being shot, eventually losing his life trying to protect others.

Johnson was a student at Youngstown State University and lived in the Omega Psi Phi (the Q) fraternity house where the shootings occurred about 3:30am Sunday.

"I want to say Jamail had rushed over there and grabbed the dude that had the gun, threw him outside," said Jordan Wagner. "When Jamail did that, that left him wide open when he pushed him and then he got shot in the chest."

Wagner was shot in the foot and shoulder during the melee.

A facebook tribute page has been set up, entitled Rest In Peace Jamail Johnson. As of this writing, 1,377 people had joined the page.

One post stands out;

Britney Thornton - John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." This is what you did Jamail. Great man with the intentions, dreams, and a plan to make our world a better place and although your not here you will still do that. We love and miss you and because of our loss we will make sure...

Youngstown Prosecutor Jay Macejko advised, "This is very clearly a potential death penalty case, and whenever you're dealing with situations, especially those that happen in or around places where we send our children or places where people go to worship, places where people need to feel safe, they should be dealt with by the harshest means that the law will allow.".

Because of this and in light of new information, the initial court appearance of Columbus Jones Jr. (22) and Braylon Rogers (19) which was scheduled for 10am Monday, was delayed until Tuesday.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams stated at a press conference Monday afternoon that Governor John Kasich called Williams and Youngstown Police Chief Jimmy Hughes after the incident asking what he could do. Williams stated he and Hughes got together with YSU personnel and compiled a list of requests and sent them to the Governor.

Williams stated he was impressed with the fact that less than 24 hours after the incident occurred, Kasich and members of his cabinet were in Youngstown with solutions. Williams stated he has never seen this in his 6 years as Mayor.

Williams advised his praise of Kasich was not political, but personal. Williams was one of 3 local Democrat Mayors that spoke out against Republican Kasich and in favor of Democrat Ted Strickland in the past election.

This shows a clear departure from partisanship in light of the tragic events of Sunday morning. With luck, this will continue.

Governor Kasich promised, in part, cooperation of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Liquor Control and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to supplement local programs such as the Mahoning Valley Joint Task Force in addressing the out of control crime plaguing Youngstown.

A silver lining, if there is one, is that this tragedy brought the focus of the Governor and Attorney General to the Mahoning Valley and a pledge to do something about it.