PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — On the second day of the murder trial of Tristan Johnson, Jr., the jury saw gun evidence recovered from Sykes Avenue where Jessie Hogg, 17, was shot dead in December 2022.
The Commonwealth rested and then reduced the original aggravated murder charge against Johnson to first-degree murder. Johnson was just 16 at the time but is being tried as an adult in Circuit Court.
He was among four teens who had parked on Sykes Avenue, supposedly to buy a gun from Hogg. According to a Portsmouth detective who testified Tuesday, Johnson said he was afraid of co-defendant, then 17-year-old Phirondus “Rondo” Clemon. Clemon and his girlfriend, Analwah “Minnie” Jones, 18, picked up Johnson and his friend, 13, who ended up as the youngest among the four defendants.
The detective said Johnson told him that he was pressured by Clemon to steal Hogg’s gun instead of buying it, and Johnson told the detective he grabbed Hogg’s gun from his waistband, and then he heard Clemon begin to shoot Hogg.
Two neighbors testified Monday they heard a total of 10 gunshots, which aligns with the report from the medical examiner. Dr. Clare Bryce testified that Jesse Hogg was shot 10 times, and five of those bullets were recovered from his body.
He died lying in a front yard along Sykes Avenue. Bryce said that, of the 10 wounds, bullets that ripped through Hogg’s left back and right abdomen were likely the most deadly.
An evidence technician identified three guns that were put into evidence, two 9 millimeter handguns and one .40 caliber handgun. Some shell casings were found close to Hogg’s body, and others further away on Sykes Avenue.
A state gun examiner matched bullets and cartridge casings to two of the three guns that were recovered in the investigation.
The 13-year-old is serving time in the Juvenile Justice System. Jones and Clemon have court dates later this year.