CORDOVA, TN – A former sheriff from Tennessee, Monica Johnson-Markwork, 51, is facing charges after shooting a door-to-door salesman, who she believed was a hitman sent by a local gang. Johnson-Markwork, a resident of Cordova, had been in touch with her son who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for child rape. She was under the impression that a gang had targeted them both.
The incident occurred at Johnson-Markwork’s residence in a Memphis suburb, where she was staying with her father. Around noon on Wednesday, she noticed a man approaching her front door through her security cameras. Believing the man was armed, she alerted her father, shouting, “They’re here,” before retreating to the attic.
However, the man at the door was not a hitman but a pest control salesman carrying an iPad. He was shot in the chest and rushed to the hospital. Currently, he remains in critical but stable condition.
Investigations revealed that Johnson-Markwork had fired the weapon, suspected to be her father’s, before fleeing to the attic. Although she did not confess to the shooting, law enforcement discovered the firearm in the crawl space where she had hidden.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has charged Johnson-Markwork with felony aggravated assault as a result of her involvement in the shooting. She was released from jail on a $4,000 bond and is due in court on October 13.
Johnson-Markwork, a former captain of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, was previously dismissed and indicted in 2016 on charges of misconduct and witness coercion in her son’s rape case. She was released on a $20,000 bond at the time, and it remains unclear whether that case has been resolved.