Montgomery judge sets bail hearing for man charged after mass shooting at bowling alley

A Montgomery County District Judge will consider a prosecutor's request to increase the bail for a man accused of killing one and shooting six others at a bowling alley.

District Attorney Daryl Bailey filed a motion Monday requesting that bail for Tory Johnson be increased from $270,000 to $2 million. Johnson posted bail and was released from the Montgomery County Detention Facility on Sunday hours after his arrest.

Judge Tiffany McCord will consider the motion at a hearing on Friday at 9 a.m., according to an order filed Tuesday morning.

Johnson, 23, was charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of 21-year-old Jeffrey Reed and six counts of assault.

Police were called around 1 a.m. Sunday to Bama Lanes on Atlanta Highway by an off-duty officer working as security at the bowling alley where patrons were participating in late-night bowling and karaoke.

A video of the event, that circulated around Facebook in the hours after the shooting, shows an argument before the sound of gunfire and screaming people consumes the footage.

Bailey, in his motion for higher bail, referenced a video of the event and said it "clearly shows the defendant shooting multiple times."

Johnson was in illegal possession of a firearm, Bailey said, though the district attorney did not specify in what way.

Six of the victims were innocent bystanders, and the seventh was involved in the verbal altercation with Johnson but was unarmed and attempting to de-escalate the situation, Bailey wrote in the motion.

Interim Police Chief Ramona Harris Sunday applauded the work of ordinary citizens who both assisted in providing first aid to victims and identified Johnson as the suspect after he'd fled the scene.

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Two men suffered life-threatening injuries in the gunfire. One was shot in the left shoulder and right thigh while the other was shot in the right arm and abdomen, according to court records.

Four other people suffered what police called non-life-threatening injuries. A man was shot in the lower back, another in the left leg, a third in both thighs and a woman was grazed by a bullet on the left side of her head, according to court records.

Police quickly characterized the shooting "as an isolated incident and not a mass shooting." Despite this, Bailey referred to it as a mass shooting in his motion.

The Advertiser and the national Gun Violence Archive both define a mass shooting as one where at least four people, excluding the accused, are killed or injured by firearm violence at roughly the same time and location.

Steve Lander, owner of the bowling alley, declined to comment on the shooting citing the ongoing investigation.

"Just hard to believe the guy got out with such a low bail," he said by email Tuesday.

Bailey, in his motion Monday, characterized the $270,000 bail as "woefully inadequate to protect the public from this dangerous and violent criminal."

A magistrate was tasked with setting the bail, as is practice for arrests over a weekend. The magistrate who issued the warrants against Johnson set the bond for each charge at the maximum allowed.

The magistrate, Bailey explained, is bound by the Alabama bail schedule, which sets the maximum for a murder charge at $150,000, the maximum for a Class B felony like first-degree assault at $30,000 and the maximum for a Class C felony like second-degree assault at $15,000.

Bailey said Tuesday that if McCord chooses to increase Johnson's bail, he'll be rearrested.

Bailey has long been a proponent of increasing the maximum bail schedule for violent crimes, particularly for a murder charge. He petitioned late last year to increase the amount from $150,000 to $1.5 million, a change that requires the Alabama Supreme Court’s approval.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, who also supported an increased bail schedule, said thoughts and prayers are not enough.

"Thinking and praying for those affected by this weekend’s violence will do nothing to stem the tide of loss in our city and across the country due to gun violence," he was quoted as saying in a news release. "It doesn’t matter the number that are shot; just one victim is far too many."

Reed pointed toward the creation of the office of violence prevention, more officers, increased patrols and an expansion of technology as the city's methods to combat the level of violence.

"Yet we need the help of our entire community to truly be successful in addressing and ending violent crime. This is not MPD’s watch alone; it is our watch," he said. "If you see something or know something, then you have to say something. Those grieving can rest assured knowing that, as mayor, I will use my position to ensure those responsible for this crime are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Kirsten Fiscus at 334-318-1798 or KFiscus@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KDFiscus

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Judge sets bail hearing for bowling alley mass shooting man charged