Kendrick Johnson surveillance video raises questions about whether teen was alone

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

GEORGIA – After months of grappling in the dark, the parents of Kendrick Johnson may be one step closer to knowing what actually happened to their son.

Wednesday they achieved a major victory when a Georgia judge ordered authorities to release all surveillance video and unredacted documents from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, which had previously been withheld.

TheGrio has obtained a portion the footage and significantly it shows the 17-year-old inside Lowndes County High School gym with other minors. The video shows
Johnson inside the gym, walking out of the shot, while other students play basketball.

It also displays Johnson walking along a school hallway and into the gym where he was later found dead. Another student is seen walking inside ahead of him.

Although hours of video is still due to be released, the footage raises questions over whether or not Johnson was alone in the gym before he died.

“Looking at the video my question is how the sheriff came up with the theory that Kendrick Johnson suffocated in a rolled-up mat,” says Kendrick Johnson’s family’s attorney, Chevene King.

The sheriff’s office has also released hundreds of pages of unredacted documents, which includes written testimony from students – including for the first time their names — who were interviewed around the time of Johnson’s death.

“I have got a lot more to work with now because we now know the identities of individuals who may be able to give us more answers,” adds King.

TheGrio has combed through the documents; they also include phone records from Johnson’s cell and details of his Facebook page, as well as information about as possible feud between the teen and another group of boys.

Follow Kunbi Tinuoye on Twitter at @Kunbiti