CINCINNATI — A man who police believe shot his mother and brother before taking his own life in Avondale Friday morning had also killed an 18-year-old in December 2020, Cincinnati police said.
Eric Johnson Jr. was found dead at his home on Canyon Drive alongside his mother, 38-year-old Darlene Flores, and brother, 16-year-old Rodrigo Johnson. Two men who said they were best friends with Johnson said they received a call from him at around 5 a.m. saying he loved them and he was sorry.
His friends said Johnson was mourning the loss of his 6-year-old sister, who was killed by his father in a murder-suicide in August 2022.
"That's his world. That was his world," Johnson's friend Timyone Andrew said. "He loved her more than anything like losing her just destroyed my boy deep down."
Cincinnati police said Monday that its homicide unit determined Johnson was also responsible for the death of Serreno Foster Jr., an 18-year-old shot and killed on Canyon Drive more than two years earlier. Police responded to a call about someone unresponsive in a vehicle on Dec. 12, 2020. When they arrived, they found Foster shot inside his still-running car.
Foster's family has been fighting for answers since his death, calling for someone to step forward as police worked on the case. CPD was finally able to link Johnson to the murder with a suicide note.
In their Facebook group, Justice for Serreno Foster Jr., the family said on Feb. 4 that "justice (had) been issued in our case."
"Justice for my baby, justice for my baby," Foster's cousin said on social media.
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