Devon Johnson, 31, of Thornton, will be held in the Cook County Jail while awaiting trial on murder charges in the June 4 fatal shooting of manager Andrew Coleman, 48, at Nippon Paint Automotive Americas in Lansing.
Cook County Judge Ieshia Gray granted a petition from prosecutors to hold Johnson in pretrial detention, calling the alleged crime a “calculated murder.”
“The defendant allegedly disguised himself with a mask and glove and attempted to avoid security and targeted the victim based on the defendant being fired from employment,” Gray wrote in the order.
Coleman, a Highland, Indiana, resident, was operations manager at the paint plant, according to his LinkedIn page.
Prosecutors said Johnson was fired June 4 due to absence and performance issues. Another employee had also reported a previous incident where Johnson had become angry and yelled at him, prosecutors said.
After receiving the news of his firing over the phone, Johnson arrived at the area of the paint plant at 12:40 p.m., according to prosecutors.
Johnson told two people who drove with him to the paint plant that he “had to talk to his boss,” prosecutors said.
Johnson was initially refused entry, but got inside by using a set of stairs to hop a barbed wire fence, prosecutors said. He was wearing an N95 face mask and a blue latex glove on his left hand, prosecutors said.
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Once inside the building, Johnson headed straight for the area of Coleman’s office, and shortly after he entered, a witness working in a nearby office reported hearing three or four loud pops, according to prosecutors.
Police responded to a report of gunshots at 12:48 p.m. and found Coleman dead in his office, according to the police report.
Following the shooting, police advised Lansing residents to shelter in place as a search for a suspect was underway. The advisory was lifted later that afternoon.
In the subsequent investigation conducted by Lansing detectives and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, Johnson was identified as a suspect and later arrested in Chicago, police said.
Police were alerted as to Johnson’s location Monday by his father, who suspected his son’s involvement, prosecutors said.
Judge Gray’s detention order stated use of GPS tracking had not prevented Johnson from committing a prior domestic battery, and that he had a history of threats.
Johnson’s next court date is set for 9:30 a.m. on July 9 at the Cook County courthouse in Markham.