A woman has spoken out about the knife-wielding man cops accuse of putting a Marietta neighborhood on lockdown Wednesday morning after allegedly trying to steal a flatbed truck.
As of Friday, 22-year-old Taavon Johnson, was in Cobb County jail on charges from that incident and on counts from several previous warrants, mostly vehicle burglary and vehicle theft, over the past month.
Marietta police confirmed Friday that Johnson has been charged with robbery by force, kidnapping, cocaine possession and three misdemeanor counts.
The cops also announced that Smyrna police have linked Johnson to multiple open theft cases and will be seeking charges against him for those.
A friend of Johnson told Channel 2 Action News that all this trouble is because of a drug problem.
Aline Clemons said that Johnson used to date her daughter and that after they broke up, he started using more and would commit crimes to fund his habit.
“He has a problem, he can’t help himself,” Clemons told WSB-TV.
Credit: John Spink/AJC WSB-TV
Credit: John Spink/AJC WSB-TV
She said that she barred him from her home after he stole from her.
“I hope that he (gets) better and cured. Right now, I don’t want him on the street because I was afraid he was going to get killed,” Clemons said. Johnson is in Cobb jail without bond.
The commotion started Wednesday morning on Springhollow Lane about 8:30 a.m. when Johnson tried to steal the truck.
The carjacking victim beat his own work truck with a sledghammer to get Johnson to stop and called 911 to report the attempted theft.
The carjacking victim declined to be interviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through a police spokesman, but WSB-TV reports that in the 911 call that the man said: “They were stealing it … and I followed this guy … jumped on the back of the truck … we fight and he ran away. He had a knife so I let him go.”
None of the several warrants accusing Johnson of vehicle theft and burglary in Cobb over the past month mentioned him being armed.
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