Carla Garmon was on the phone with her longtime partner Tuesday afternoon when the line went dead.
She called back several times but couldn’t get an answer.
Four hours later, she got a call that no one is ready for. It was the police telling her that her girlfriend of seven years had been killed.
Aquarius “AJ” Johnson, who worked for Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, was driving to an inspection site when a tree fell and crushed her city-owned SUV in the 600 block of Mt. Paran Road, Sandy Springs police said.
“You get a call and your whole life changes,” Garmon told Channel 2 Action News. “I never in a million years expected this.”
Garmon said Johnson, a 38-year-old Marine veteran, loved her job and enjoyed working outdoors. Moments before she was killed, she was telling Garmon about her day and how well it was going.
“She was in motion and a tree hit her,” Garmon said through tears. “This doesn’t happen.”
Authorities said the tree came down as severe weather swept through the area about 1 p.m. The National Weather Service placed several metro Atlanta counties, including Fulton, under severe thunderstorm warnings as a line of storms produced heavy downpours and gusty winds.
Johnson worked as an erosion and sediment control inspector for 17 months and was well-liked by her colleagues, an Atlanta city spokesman said Friday.
“We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of this valuable member of our City of Atlanta family,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement. “Our sympathies, thoughts and prayers are with AJ’s loved ones and friends during this difficult time.”
Sandy Springs police said Johnson’s SUV was so badly damaged by the tree that she had to be extricated by fire crews. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
Now, Garmon must carry on without the love of her life, she told Channel 2.
“She was just such an amazing person,” she said. “She could never be replaced by anybody or anything.”
