Shannon M. Johnson was born on November 18, 1983, in Delaware. His early life is not extensively documented, but by his late teens and early twenties, he had developed a lengthy and troubling criminal history. From 2001 onward, Johnson had been arrested 57 times and charged with over 145 misdemeanor and 33 felony offenses. Among these charges was a violent sexual assault in December 2002, where he raped a pregnant woman. He eventually pleaded guilty to fourth-degree rape, which later became a key factor in elevating his murder charge to a capital offense.

Johnson was also suspected of shooting his stepfather, though he was not convicted for that incident. He displayed a consistent pattern of aggression, criminal behavior, and defiance of the law. Despite these warnings, he remained active in the community and entered into a relationship with a woman named Lakeisha Truitt, with whom he had a child. Their relationship became strained due to his abusive behavior, ultimately leading Truitt to leave him. The breakup and the involvement of another man in Truitt’s life seemed to trigger Johnson’s most violent actions.

On September 24, 2006, Shannon Johnson committed a cold-blooded and calculated act of murder in Wilmington, Delaware. Johnson approached the home of his ex-girlfriend, Lakeisha Truitt, with whom he shared a child. Their relationship had ended due to Johnson’s abusive behavior, but he remained obsessed and unable to move on. That day, Johnson saw Truitt sitting in a parked car outside her home with her new boyfriend, 25-year-old Cameron Hamlin. Without warning, Johnson pulled out a firearm and opened fire on the vehicle, fatally shooting Hamlin while Truitt watched in horror. Johnson then fled the scene.

Truitt ran to her grandmother’s home and called the police. Authorities advised her to stay away from her home for her safety, as Johnson remained at large. However, on November 10, 2006, nearly two months after the murder, Truitt returned to her residence to retrieve clothing for her child. Unknown to her, Johnson had been stalking her. As she sat in her car, he ambushed her, opening fire once again. Truitt was shot but survived, and Johnson fled when his gun jammed.

On November 15, 2006, police captured Johnson and arrested him for murder and attempted murder. Investigators also discovered that Johnson had attempted to arrange a hit on Truitt from inside jail, hoping to silence her before she could testify in court. Despite this, Truitt survived, cooperated with authorities, and played a central role in securing justice for Hamlin’s murder.

On March 27, 2008, Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. After the Delaware Supreme Court upheld his sentence in 2009, Johnson chose to waive all further appeals. Federal public defenders attempted to intervene, arguing Johnson was mentally unfit, but a state judge found him competent and allowed the execution process to proceed.

On April 20, 2012, Johnson was executed by lethal injection at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center. He became the last person to be executed in the state of Delaware. Following his death, the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs expired, and in 2016, Delaware’s Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. In 2024, the state formally abolished capital punishment.

Johnson’s final meal included chicken lo mein, carrots, cake, wheat bread with margarine, and iced tea. His execution marked the end of Delaware’s use of capital punishment and closed the book on a case that involved domestic abuse, stalking, attempted murder, and an execution that would later become the last of its kind in state history.