ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – An Abilene man accused of killing a teen girl after firing shots into the crowd at a large house party in Taylor County has pleaded guilty to Deadly Conduct.
George Johnson gave his guilty plea to Deadly Conduct then received a 10-year prison sentence for the crime in a Taylor County courtroom Friday morning in connection to the death of Megan Kirkland, 19, who was shot and killed in August 2020.
During the victim impact statement in court, Kirkland’s mother said she was “sad” for Johnson but that her “momma heart” forgives him.
She also reminded him that God loves him and that she knows he didn’t kill Kirkland on purpose.
Kirkland was shot and killed at a party on the 2500 block of Fulweiler Road. Around 120 attendees were present at the time of her death.
Court documents reveal investigators talked to dozens of witnesses from the party, learning that Johnson was pushed down to the ground at one point, and when he got up, he fired shots into the crowd, hitting Kirkland with one of the bullets.
Once the investigation turned toward Johnson, detectives found pictures of him with a gun on social media taken “very near” the date of the murder. A text message conversation was also uncovered, where three other suspects arrested for Tampering with Evidence in connection to Kirkland’s death – Stephanie Avalos (Johnson’s mother), Kimberly Renee Limas and Ramon Aguirres, Jr. – were talking about how the media was naming the wrong suspect for Kirkland’s murder and that they needed to get their stories straight so they weren’t implicated in the homicide.
The trio then went to Johnson’s mother – Avalos – and came up with a plan to get rid of the clothing he was wearing during the crime.
Avalos arranged for Aguirres to burn the clothing, but when police went to his home and found the fire pit Avalos described, Aguirres said he was present but it was Avalos who did the burning, the documents state.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, the Merkel Police Department, the Tye Police Department, and the Abilene Police Department are all involved in the investigation.
Numerous items of evidence have been seized.
All three suspects charged with Tampering with Evidence are still awaiting their day in court.
BigCountryHomepage will update this article once additional information is released.