Man shot dead had made Snapchat video naming his alleged killer

Half an hour before Stanton Saunders was gunned down on a city street, he recorded a Snapchat video that named three people who wanted to harm him, according to court testimony.

Juwan Johnson, 18, is one of the people named in the video, a Gulfport police detective testified Wednesday in a preliminary hearing. He now stands accused of shooting and killing Saunders.

Saunders, 21, made statements in the video about Facebook posts from people who had made threatening remarks or had threatened to kill him, Harrison County prosecuting attorney Herman Cox said.

He was shot to death June 8 in North Gulfport.

A judge also heard police testimony on Johnson’s alleged involvement in a drive-by shooting that targeted Johnson’s ex-girlfriend and two other women June 5, three days before the killing.

The fatal shots

Officials said Johnson chased Saunders, fired a shot into his back and shot him three more times after Saunders collapsed on 34th Avenue at Ganges Street.

Police about 11:30 a.m. had received calls about the shooting. Witnesses told them a man had chased another man from the nearby Isiah Fredericks Community Center.

Investigators learned surveillance cameras at the center and a residence recorded part of what happened and witnesses filled in details for police.

Johnson had borrowed a vehicle from someone and apparently met Saunders there. Both parked on the west side of the community center and got out of their vehicles.

They began to fight, Cox said, and Saunders ran west across a field.

“Mr. Johnson is running behind him and fires his first round,” Cox said. “A bullet strikes Mr. Saunders in the back. Johnson runs out of that particular video’s view, but eyewitnesses at the scene identified Johnson and said they saw him coming up where the victim fell to the ground and he fires three more shots, hitting Mr. Saunders.”

Drive-by involved girlfriends

In the drive-by shooting case, Johnson is accused of firing two shots at his ex-girlfriend’s car while he was riding with his new girlfriend.

“The two women got into a text-message argument,” Cox said.

The new girlfriend sent the old girlfriend a message showing a gun and brass knuckles and made threatening remarks, he said.

The women began chasing each other in their cars “like playing bumper cars,” Cox said. “It was a game of chase.”

About 6 p.m., they were on Three Rivers Road heading to Riverchase apartments when the new girlfriend pulled her car alongside the old girlfriend’s car, Cox said.

“Mr. Johnson leans out and shoots two rounds at the vehicle. One round strikes the front passenger door. They take off and another round misses (her car).”

The women made it to the apartment complex and saw a police officer. They showed him the bullet hole. Police obtained an arrest warrant but were unable to find Johnson.

He was found two weeks later in Lake County, Florida.

He is held on a $1.3 million bond.

This story was originally published July 21, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Man shot dead had made Snapchat video naming his alleged killer."