From dreams to devastation: Tallahassee teen's life cut short in McDonald's shooting

Jermaine Johnson was driving home after a long day of laying drywall in Panama City when he got a phone call that would send him racing back to Tallahassee.

His 18-year-old son, also named Jermaine Johnson but known by loved ones as “Tune,” had been in involved in an incident at the McDonald’s on West Pensacola Street.

“Tune just got shot,” the younger Johnson’s sister, Elese O'Neill, told him. “He’s dead.”

Johnson, in shock and disbelief, could only pray the news wasn’t true. By the time he got to McDonald’s, it was blocked off and swarming with police and bystanders. He parked his car in the middle of traffic and made his way to the scene.

Officers told Johnson that they’d identified his son from his driver’s license as one of the dead. But Johnson, who shared a matching bass clef tattoo with his son, wasn’t convinced until investigators confirmed that the deceased — the first of his seven children — had the same ink on his skin.

“I remember when he was born like last week,” Johnson said. “He just got here.”

Both Tune and Trenton Tompkins, 21, were killed in the gunfire, which was sparked by an argument between the two over a gun Johnson allegedly took from Tompkins some weeks earlier. According to police reports, Johnson, his friend Kylen Welch, 16, and Tompkins were all armed with handguns when the confrontation began at the Palmer Munroe Teen Center.

Witnesses said Tompkins suggested he and Johnson “shoot it out” at the McDonald’s to settle the fight and that Johnson planned to take his gun and money off him. Once in the parking lot, Johnson allegedly said he was going to shoot Tompkins in the face and asked Welch if his gun was loaded and he was ready to go.

Johnson got in and out of the passenger seat of Tompkins car several times as Welch stood outside the driver’s side door. According to court records, Tompkins shot Johnson, prompting Welch to shoot Tompkins. Both Johnson and Tompkins died at the scene.

The shooting forever changed the lives of all three young men who were involved in the shooting, said Nita Mack, Tune’s stepmother. As a parent, she said it’s hard not to blame herself.

“Where did you go wrong?” Mack said. “Did I not hug you enough? Did I not love you enough? Is it because I was trying to work to keep a roof over your head, that I didn't give you the supervision that you needed? There's just so many what ifs.”

What Happened: Two men shot and killed outside Tallahassee McDonald's were arguing over a gun, TPD says

One Arrested: 16-year-old to be tried as an adult for involvement in McDonald's shooting

The Tallahassee Police Department initially said Welch, who fled the scene and tossed his gun in a pond, had fired “in fear for his life” and that the case fell under Stand Your Ground. However, State Attorney Jack Campbell disputed that. Welch, initially arrested for possession of a firearm by a delinquent and tampering with evidence, was charged last week with second-degree murder.

Under Stand Your Ground, people are justified in using deadly force if they reasonably believe it necessary to prevent “imminent death” or “great bodily harm” to themselves or others. They have no “duty to retreat” and can “stand his or her ground” so long as they are not engaged in criminal activity or somewhere they don’t have a right to be, the law says.

‘He wasn’t perfect, but he was a good kid’

Tune, who worked at the Walmart on Mahan Drive, grew up in both Tallahassee and Louisiana. He loved music and sports and dreamed of playing football at Florida State University and becoming a successful musician.

“He really had big dreams and big goals,” said O'Neill, his sister. "He wanted to be famous. He wanted to be a celebrity. He wanted to be known.”

His family described him as a constantly smiling, big-hearted kid and the glue of the family. With eight siblings, he was always helping them, reading to them, playing with them and taking care of them. His dad said he would literally give the shirt off his back to help others.

“I’d go to the school for stuff, and kids would walk up in like his jacket or something,” Johnson said. “He was like a personal Salvation Army.”

He attended Nims Middle School. But Tune, whose family said he had a short temper that got him into trouble, was kicked out of school at some point for fighting. He later participated in a program that helps troubled kids and got his GED.

O'Neill said that over the past year, her brother was focused on turning his life around. He landed a full-time job at Walmart, where he worked as a cart pusher. Sanyra Paramore, Tune’s god-sister who worked with him at the store, said he always asked to pick up extra shifts on his days off. Before the shooting, he saved up enough to buy his mom a Chrysler 200.

“Everybody at the job knows Tune, they love Tune,” she said. “Everybody knows him for laughing and joking. He comes to laugh, he comes to be a joker, because that’s what he is.”

Tune spent most of his free time making and listening to music. He and Welch, good friends since they were in middle school together, often spent time making rap music at the teen center’s recording studio.

Mack said she’s still coming to terms with the fact that Tune’s dreams will never be realized.

“Just knowing that that’s not going to happen is heartbreaking to me,” she said. “None of us are okay. None of us will ever be okay.”

‘The gun violence is not getting any better’

Mack, an attorney, said the gun violence problem in Tallahassee has made her scared to take her children around town each day. She doesn’t know who has a gun and who might get mad enough to use it one day.

“I am beyond on edge,” she said. “Even more than I was before with just life.”

For O'Neill, this is not the first time she has lost a loved one to a bullet. Just over three years ago, someone very close to her died nearly the same way her brother did. She said most of her friends have at least one personal story about gun violence to tell.

'We're praying for you': Pastors hold vigil outside McDonald's days after fatal shooting

“Every single week it seems that somebody is gone by the hands of another human with a gun in their hand,” she said. “It is getting outrageous.”

So far this year, nine people have been killed and 33 injured in at least 43 serious shootings in Tallahassee and Leon County, according to a Tallahassee Democrat analysis of gun violence. A Leon County Sheriff’s Office study of murders from 2015 to 2020 called “The Anatomy of a Homicide” found that Black teenagers and young adults living in the poorest ZIP codes make up the largest group of homicide victims and offenders.

This year, both the city and county are spending millions on law enforcement to tackle the gun violence problem. Budgets for both the Sheriff’s Office and TPD include increased pay for officers. The city is eyeing a nearly 10% property tax rate hike to pay for additional officers, higher pay and new crime-fighting technology.

Several days after the shooting, Paramore, Tune’s god-sister, and a friend went to the McDonald’s to pay their respects. They tied red, heart-shaped balloons to a fence outside the restaurant with messages like “I love you brother; you will always be in my heart,” and “Long live Tune.”

Paramore said she’s planning to leave Tallahassee because of the gun violence. In 2020, her cousin, Cordarius Johnson, 20, was shot during a massive “pop-up” party outside the Rattler Gas Station on West Orange Avenue. She said she feels even less safe — and plans to move out of state — now that a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis has gone into effect allowing concealed weapons to be carried without a permit.

“That’s going to make the world even more crazy,” she said. “That’s why I’m trying to get away.”

None of the family members know how Tune, Tompkins or Welch got their guns. O'Neill said she preached to Tune and Welch almost every day that they needed to focus more on school and their futures.

O'Neill said three families whose children were involved in the McDonald’s shootout have been destroyed because of guns. She added that they won’t be the last.

"Something has got to give," she said. "Somebody has to do something."

Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on Twitter @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: McDonald's shooting in Tallahassee leaves family heartbroken