Killing stuns Polson

Victim, suspect part of four-generation local family

While Lake County authorities arraigned Ross Johnson on Tuesday morning in the shooting death of his father, Roger Johnson, 47, a stunned Polson community remembered the slain Johnson as an avid hunter, sportsman and member of a family that has spanned four generations in Polson.

Ross Johnson, 20, was arrested Monday night at the family home on Meadow Vista Way near Polson following a two-day standoff with law-enforcement officers.

He was charged with deliberate homicide in Lake County District Court and then was transferred to the Sanders County jail, where he is being held on $1 million bail as the investigation into the alleged homicide continues.

The tragedy began sometime on Saturday as the Johnson family was camping in the vicinity of the Bend Guard Station, a U.S. Forest Service cabin 32 miles north of Thompson Falls. The family has a cabin in the Thompson River Valley.

Roger Johnson's body was found on a Plum Creek logging road about two miles east of the Bend Guard Station, Sanders County Sheriff Gene Arnold said.

Johnson died from a single shot from a 12-gauge shotgun, Arnold said. The body, located nearly on the county line between Sanders and Flathead counties, was discovered by passing motorcyclists, who drove until they could get cell-phone service and alert authorities.

"There were no witnesses to the shooting, but people in the area said they heard gunshots," Arnold said, adding that campers said the father and son may have been gopher hunting when the shooting occurred.

Once the identity of the slain man was determined, it led authorities to the Johnson family home outside of Polson.

SWAT teams from Lake, Flathead and Missoula counties were brought in to handle the standoff. Negotiators tried to coax Johnson out of the home over the 48-hour ordeal, then fired tear gas into the house. When Johnson still failed to surrender, officers sent in a remote-controlled robot, then moved into the home, used a Taser gun to subdue Johnson and arrested him.

No one was injured in the siege. Officers evacuated two dozen neighbors shortly after the standoff began.

Detectives have yet to determine a motive.

Arnold said Tuesday morning that officers planned to search the home and Ross Johnson's vehicle. He expected Sanders County lead detectives Martin Spring and Chad Cantrell to spend the day going through the home for evidence.

THE JOHNSON family is well-known in Polson for its active involvement in the business community, high-school football program and hunting.

Four generations of Johnsons played football at Polson High School over a span of nearly 80 years, starting with Arle "Swede" Johnson, who played right end in 1929, according to a Lake County Leader newspaper story in 2005.

Swede Johnson owned a grocery store on Main Street for many years.

Ross Johnson's grandfather, Elliot Johnson, operated a barber shop on Main Street for years, and Roger Johnson was employed by Plum Creek Timber Co. in Pablo.

All four Johnsons were recognized for the family's historical achievement on the gridiron during a home football game in 2005.

During the 2005 interview with Lake County Leader reporter Nate Traylor, Ross Johnson said he didn't feel any pressure from his father, grandfather and great-grandfather to play the game. He just wanted to carry on the tradition.

When asked what it was like to represent the fourth generation of Johnsons on the Pirate football field, Ross Johnson told the reporter it was "pretty cool."

Roger Johnson was an avid outdoorsman with a passion for hunting and fishing.

Lake City Bakery owner Mike Humphrey recalled that every time he went goose hunting near Pablo Reservoir, he would see Roger Johnson out there hunting as well.

"The whole family is avid hunters," Humphrey said. "The Johnsons are one of the top 10 families, probably, as far as Polson history goes."

Humphrey said acquaintances of the family said Ross Johnson had suffered a head injury about a year ago in a BMX bicycle accident.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com