dion johnson

Toddler, grandmother shot by mother’s angry ex-boyfriend

A toddler was in critical condition Monday after Washington state man barged into his ex-girlfriend’s house in SeaTac on Saturday and shot him and his grandmother, who was watching him.

Both were taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition, but the grandmother’s condition was later upgraded to satisfactory, KIRO7 reported.

King County deputies launched a search for 46-year-old Dion Johnson, the man they say pulled the trigger, and found his abandoned Ford van Saturday night in south Seattle.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, a man identifying himself as Johnson called 911 and said he wanted to turn himself in. Deputies responded and made contact with the man, but before they could take him into custody, “he took his own life,” King County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt Tim Meyer said.

Meyer did not say the man who killed himself Sunday afternoon was Johnson, but he did say that investigators were no longer looking for him.

Astride Simon, the toddler’s mother, told KIRO7 that Johnson came into the home at about 10 a.m. on Saturday and went straight to her mother’s bedroom, where the older woman was watching the toddler boy.

“He said, ‘Give me my baby, or I’m going to kill you,’” Simon said. “My mom didn’t see a gun. So my mom said, ‘Go ahead.’ He pulled out the gun and just shot her like two times, one in the leg, one in the arm.”

Then, he shot the boy.

“And my baby was shot in the stomach,” Simon said. “And the baby was shot in the leg. And the baby was shot in the hip. He’s in critical condition at this point.”

After the shooting, Johnson was seen on surveillance video calming walking out of the home.

The King County Medical Examiner is expected to make a formal identification of the man believed to be Johnson later this week. Simon, meanwhile, is angry.

“He needed to suffer like my son is suffering now,” she said.

But, she said, she’s grateful her mother is ok and asked for prayers for her young son.

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[Featured image: Dion Johnson/King County Sheriff’s Office]