WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Victim: "It was either me or him"

Victim: "It was either me or him"

By Andrew Hasbun
andrew@wlbt.net

The woman who fought back during a carjacking believes her safety may still be at risk.  This weekend the Copiah County woman shot and killed the man she said was trying to steal her car and possibly kill her.

It happened around 11:30pm Saturday outside a pool hall on Highway 51 in Copiah County.   

Kennya Johnson is still shaken up.  Saturday night she was leaving the pool hall in Copiah County when a man approached her, asked for directions, then pulled out a gun.

"I reached over to shut my door from my left, and he had a gun in my face, a silver gun in my face," said Johnson.  "He told me to get out. I threw my hands up, and asked him what he wanted and he said, ‘I want to have this car."

Johnson says she offered to give the man her car, but as friends passed by, her attacker told her not to speak out.  The gun was still at her chest.   Johnson feared for the worst.

"I'm begging him and telling him that I have got kids," said Johnson. "He said, ‘b***h do I look like I have got a heart.'  So I knew it was serious at this time."

Luckily, her attacker, Vincent Fleming, 19, of Jackson, got confused. He misheard Johnson and assumed she had a child in the back seat. He allowed her to remove the baby, but she took that opportunity to get her handgun.  She reached inside grabbed the gun and shot once.  Fleming fell to the ground

"At that time he came up with the gun pointed at me. So I just started back shooting because it was either me or him," said Johnson.

She shot the 19-year-old at about five times. She said three other men picked the teen up off the ground and drove away.  He later died at the hospital.

But Johnson still fears retaliation.  Johnson said she was told by investigators that one of those three men turned himself in on Sunday.  She said he provided investigators with valuable information but was never arrested. 

"So that means that there are three guys out there that know me, and I don't know them. Evidently the Sheriff's department is not concerned about my safety," said Johnson.

Johnson believes her 1992 Buick was not what her attacker really wanted.  She said he mentioned how much he liked her 22-inch rims.

Copiah County Sheriff Harold Jones would not address Kennya Johnson's concerns today.  He says the investigation is still ongoing.