A young Prattville man has been arrested in a Montgomery shooting that left a wife and mother paralyzed after she was caught in crossfire.
Michael Lamar Johnson, 20, is charged with first-degree assault and two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied building or vehicle, according to Central Alabama Crime Stoppers and court records made available Monday.
Johnson was taken into custody Sunday.
The shooting happened about 1 p.m. Friday, April 12. Charging documents state he was shooting at a fleeing vehicle when Amy Dicks was shot.
Dicks was driving in the 5500 block of Atlanta Highway when she stopped at a red light and shots rang out.
“All of the sudden, I heard multiple gunshots, seemed like thousands,’’ Dicks said in a Facebook post. “I ducked my head trying to look around to see if I could tell what was going on.”
“It was so weird because there were so many and out of nowhere and it caught me off guard,’’ she wrote.
“Then that’s when it happened, a bullet entered my driver’s window, pierced my shoulder, went through my side, hit a rib, my lug and then severed my spinal court,’’ Dicks wrote.
“As my body convulsed and everything was in slow motion, I knew I wasn’t going to make it.”
She wrote that she called her husband and her mother and told them she loved them.
Dicks underwent surgery to remove the bullet but remains paralyzed.
She has since been moved to Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which specializes in spinal cord and brain rehabilitation.
The shooting outraged Dicks friends, family, and the community. A large contingent attended a Montgomery City Council meeting to speak out against the violence in the city.
Johnson is being held in the Montgomery County Detention Facility on bonds totaling $90.000.
Crime Stoppers said the suspect was identified through an anonymous tip.
Crime Stoppers will be providing a cash reward of $10,000 to the tipster.
An additional $5,000 from Alabama House of Representatives District 75, Reed Ingram, is being placed on hold and will be paid upon conviction, bringing the total reward to $15,000.00.