The short answer
In December 2021, Baltimore Police Officer Keona Holley and civilian Justin Johnson were fatally shot 90 minutes apart in separate Baltimore neighborhoods by the same two men, Elliot Knox and Travon Shaw, who were later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
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Suggest coverage for this caseIn the early morning of December 16, 2021, 39-year-old Baltimore Police Department officer Keona Schannel Holley was shot while sitting in her patrol car in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore. About 90 minutes later, 38-year-old Justin Johnson was shot six times in the back while in his car in the Yale Heights neighborhood. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene; Holley was placed on life support at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and died a week later after being removed from life support on December 23, 2021.
Holley, known to family as "KeKe," had joined the Baltimore Police Department in 2019 after working at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a psychiatric hospital. She had four children and one grandchild, and said she joined the force to help change the department's reputation in the community. Johnson, the fourth of seven children, had five children of his own at the time of his death.
Investigators used license plate reader data and nearby security footage to identify a car registered to Elliot Knox near the scene of Holley's shooting. Knox initially told police his car had been stolen and denied involvement, but later admitted he was present at both shootings, saying that co-defendant Travon Shaw had fired the shots. Knox led detectives to a home in the Windsor Hills neighborhood where the firearms used in the killings — a Glock 22 and an AR-style pistol — were recovered along with ammunition, gloves, and masks. DNA evidence on the weapons matched both Knox and Shaw, and shell casings from both crime scenes matched the recovered guns.
Both Knox and Shaw had prior criminal records involving armed robbery, and Shaw had been awaiting trial on a 2020 firearms charge at the time of the shootings. Shaw was convicted of all counts in Johnson's killing in October 2023 and pleaded guilty to all counts in Holley's killing in March 2024, receiving a sentence of life in prison plus 20 years without parole. Knox was found guilty in March 2024 on eight of nine counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, but was acquitted of using a firearm to kill Holley; he was sentenced in June 2024 to two consecutive life sentences without parole.
Holley's death prompted proposed legislation in the Maryland Senate, the "Officer Keona Holley Public Safety Act," which would have made those convicted of assisting in the murder of a police officer ineligible for parole. The bill was later amended to instead expand a scholarship fund for families of killed public safety workers, prompting Holley's family to request her name be removed from the legislation. The block of Pennington Avenue where Holley was shot was later dedicated as "Officer Keona Holley Way." Holley was the first Baltimore police officer killed in the line of duty since Detective Sean Suiter in 2017.
Officer Keona Holley is shot in her patrol car in Curtis Bay, Baltimore; approximately 90 minutes later, Justin Johnson is shot and killed in his car in Yale Heights, Baltimore.
Travon Shaw is denied bond.
Elliot Knox is denied bond.
Justin Johnson's funeral is held; a community vigil for Holley, still on life support, takes place the same day.
Keona Holley is removed from life support and pronounced dead.
Holley's funeral is held at the Baltimore Convention Center.
Maryland state senator Robert Cassilly proposes the Officer Keona Holley Public Safety Act.
The 4400 block of Pennington Avenue is dedicated as 'Officer Keona Holley Way.'
Travon Shaw is convicted on all counts in the killing of Justin Johnson.
Elliot Knox is found guilty on eight of nine counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, but acquitted of using a firearm to kill Holley.
Travon Shaw pleads guilty to all counts in the killing of Keona Holley and is sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
Elliot Knox is sentenced to two back-to-back life sentences without parole.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
38-year-old man fatally shot in his car in Yale Heights, Baltimore, on December 16, 2021.[3]
39-year-old Baltimore Police Department officer fatally shot on duty on December 16, 2021; died December 23, 2021.[3]
Convicted in March 2024 on eight of nine counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, in the killings of Holley and Johnson; sentenced in June 2024 to two consecutive life sentences without parole. Acquitted of using a firearm to kill Holley.[3]
Convicted on all counts in Johnson's killing in October 2023 and pleaded guilty on all counts in Holley's killing in March 2024; sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years without parole.[3]
From the record
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SOLVEDListenOliver neighborhood, Baltimore, Maryland · 2000s
On October 16, 2002, the entire Dawson family—parents Carnell and Angela and their five children—were killed when their East Baltimore home was firebombed after Angela Dawson had repeatedly reported drug dealing and other crimes in the neighborhood to police.
Image recordEditorial useSourceUNSOLVEDListenBelvedere Hotel, Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Maryland, United States · 2000s
Rey Rivera, a Baltimore writer and videographer, went missing on May 16, 2006, after receiving a phone call and rushing from his home; his badly injured body was found eight days later in a room beneath a hole in a low roof of the Belvedere Hotel. Baltimore Police ruled the death a probable suicide, but the medical examiner listed the manner of death as undetermined, and the case remains disputed.
Credit: VOAPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenGilmor Homes, Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore, Maryland · 2010s
Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died on April 19, 2015, a week after sustaining a fatal spinal injury while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department, an event that triggered mass protests and the criminal prosecution of six officers, all of whom were acquitted or had charges dropped.
SOLVEDListenLeongatha, Victoria, Australia · 2023
Erin Patterson murdered three relatives and seriously injured a fourth by serving beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at a family lunch in Leongatha, Victoria, in July 2023. She was convicted on all charges in July 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrenEditorial useSourceOVERTURNEDListenColorado Springs, Colorado · 2020
Gannon Stauch, an 11-year-old boy from Colorado Springs, was reported missing on January 27, 2020, and later found to have been murdered by his stepmother, Letecia Stauch (also known as Letecia Hardin), who was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to life without parole; her conviction was overturned on appeal in April 2026.
Satilla Shores, near Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia · 2020
On February 23, 2020, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was chased by three white men in trucks while jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, and was fatally shot by Travis McMichael after a struggle. No arrests were made for over two months until a video of the killing went viral, after which Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan were charged, tried, and convicted of murder and other crimes in state court, and later convicted of federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges.
