Canton — On Saturday, August 10, Metro Detroit news outlets reported the terrible and tragic death of Nathan Morris, who was shot by his neighbor while walking his young daughter around the block in his suburban Canton neighborhood. 

A careful reader would have been left with the notion that a freak occurrence of isolated and unexplainable violence took place and then scrolled on to the next headline. Thoughts and prayers for the victim’s family, a link to the GoFundMe, and the wheel keeps turning into the next news cycle. 

But what if this senseless and vile act wasn’t a momentary schizophrenic breakdown but rather the next escalation of a man with a long history of criminal behavior?

I suspected there was much more, and I was stunned by what I learned. 

Morris, a married father of two, who was well-liked by neighbors in the area, was civically active and involved in local Republican politics. The reporting indicated that Morris was shot by a neighbor, identified as Devereaux Johnson, 47, who lived near Morris’s home. Allegedly, a dispute arose between the men after Morris’s daughter disturbed some mulch in Johnson’s front yard. The senseless shooting was a truly monstrous ending to the life of a great family man. 

Local media mentioned Johnson’s possible mental illness, yet only a couple news outlets made note of his multiple felony convictions for assault, and even they buried that near the end. Nearly all the reporting omitted Johnson’s personal information, including his race and physical description. 

Johnson, according to his next-door neighbors, was a feared miscreant. Those living close to him sought every means to avoid him. They found him to be a bully who was physically intimidating—a 6-foot-4, 240-pound man with an intense and unsettling look in his eyes. He was verbally confrontational with others just for making eye contact with him.

And he was getting worse, much worse, with each passing day. A local resident living nearby claimed Johnson moved into the subdivision five or six years earlier with a woman presumed to be his girlfriend. He immediately began to terrorize the street. His behavior worsened over time and was nearing a zenith, especially with one next-door neighbor, a mid-40s white male, who was taking the full brunt of Johnson’s ire. According to his neighbors, Johnson was well known to local police. 

This was confirmed by sources close to the investigation who claimed Mr. Johnson was a serious problem known to law enforcement in Canton, Plymouth, and Plymouth Charter Township. In fact, he was such a problem that one source—who asked not to be named—said that when local authorities were alerted to the shooting in Canton on Saturday, they immediately suspected Johnson as the suspect due to his long criminal history. “When this hit the wire, I knew it was him,” the source said. 

In addition, records indicate that within the last year, Mr. Johnson had assaulted a city employee and, during his subsequent court appearances for that assault, was arrested a second time for assaulting a police officer and an officer of the court. For this crime, he was convicted and placed on probation. His probation ended shortly before the murder. 

Yes, you read that right. Johnson, in court to be sentenced for assaulting a city employee, assaulted two more city employees and was arrested a second time, this time inside the courthouse. 

Those same sources provided a peculiar and rather mysterious description of Johnson. He was allegedly an unemployed former service member in the U.S. Marines, and he would arrive in court sharply dressed in a sport coat, dress pants, and fedora. He was known to drive flashy, newer-model foreign vehicles and present himself as a businessman. He had allegedly identified himself in court on one occasion as a Muslim and had been witnessed quoting from the Koran during a verbal disagreement with court officers. In addition, Johnson was known to behave publicly in a manner that suggested a deep suspicion and even hatred of white people. One source referred to him as a “flaming racist.” 

If that isn’t enough to raise your eyebrows, this might: Additional sources alleged that Johnson is a person of interest in a drive-by shooting in Indiana, although details and specifics on that are cloudy. In addition, records indicate prior convictions for forced sexual assault in Nevada, Illinois, and Michigan. 

Local media would have us believe Nathan Morris was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, his death the result of a brief mental breakdown. But it would appear he was simply the person closest to a ticking time bomb when it went off. Everyone knew Johnson was a grave danger to those around him, and yet he was still on the streets. 

One of Johnson’s neighbors cemented the chilling reality of living near him: “I was outside leaving for work and he was in his driveway. I made inadvertent eye contact with him and he stood up and remained staring at me, unblinking. I tried looking away and got into my car. He kept staring at me, like he was daring me to say something as I drove away.”

J.Z. Delorean is a writer for Michigan Enjoyer and has been a Metro Detroit-based professional investigator for 22 years. Follow him on X @Stainless31.

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