Headland police searched on Monday for the person or people responsible for a fatal early morning shooting that claimed the life of a local businessowner.
Headland Police Chief Mark Jones said Mike Johnson, 46, was killed Monday on his property in the 3500 block of County Road 83. The property was a family farm business, Johnson Hay Farm, where Johnson had been going to hunt.
Jones said Johnson saw two people on the property around 5:45 a.m. and confronted them. At some point Johnson was shot in the upper torso. Johnson managed to call 9-1-1. He later died on the scene.
Henry County Coroner Derek Wright said a firearm recovered from the scene belonged to Johnson. He said police are working to establish whether this was the weapon used to kill Johnson.
Jones said Johnson was a lifelong Henry County resident and had just been married a few weeks before the shooting. Wright said he was living in Dothan with his new wife and remodeling property at the County Road 83 address and planned to reside there.
Judy Armstrong, a Headland resident, described the shooting as a tragedy. She said the Johnsons were longtime residents of Headland, and Johnson’s father had owned an IGA grocery store there.
“I’ve known him since boyhood and he wouldn’t hurt a flea,” she said. “He was a very gentle fellow.”
Headland police are being assisted in the investigation by the Henry County/Abbeville Task Force, the Houston County Sheriff's Office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.
Police are asking anyone who saw any suspicious activity in the area around the time of the shooting to contact Headland police.
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