A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 30. Based on the sentencing guidelines, she could be facing as much as 34 months in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections, according to a release from Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson’s office.

On April 14, 2021, the defendant used social media to arrange the sale of a gun to three residents of Leavenworth County. Brooke Johnson actually intended to sell them a BB gun that resembled a real gun, and to drive-off with their money before they realized it was not a real gun. Johnson recruited two juveniles, one of them her 12-year-old brother, to assist with the scheme. She also recruited S.L., who was 17, to drive them to Leavenworth in his car.

They met the prospective purchasers in the KARE Pharmacy parking lot, where the two cars parked across from each other. A teenage male walked from the purchasers’ car, received the fake gun from the defendant, and gave her $400 in cash. As the teenage male started to walk back to the purchasers’ car, he realized the gun was not a real gun, and shouted to Darvon Thomas and Jaylen Johnson, the two other purchasers who had remained in their car, that they had been ripped-off. Thomas told Johnson to shoot them, and Johnson exited the car and began firing a real gun at the defendant’s car, hitting it multiple times as it left the parking lot. One stray bullet struck the car of a woman driving past the pharmacy with her 6-month-old baby inside.

After leaving the scene, the defendant realized her brother had been shot. Instead of stopping at St. John’s Hospital, they drove to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, where the defendant’s brother was pronounced dead. The Leavenworth Police Department was notified by the Kansas City Missouri Police Department that the defendant and the others were at the hospital, and Leavenworth Police Department detectives immediately went to the hospital. The defendant, S.L. and the other juvenile were not truthful with the detectives, but thanks to a tireless investigation by the detectives, the true facts were eventually learned.

Jaylen Johnson, the person who fired the fatal bullet, was convicted by a jury on May 9, 2022, of first-degree murder, two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle, and one count criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. On June 17 he was sentenced to life in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections, with a chance to apply for parole after service of 25 years. Darvon Thomas, who told Johnson to shoot at the car, was convicted of Second Degree Murder on February 8th, 2022, and was sentenced on March 9th to 200 months, or almost 17 years, in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections. S.L., who drove the defendant to Leavenworth, was charged as a juvenile, and adjudicated on November 16th, 2021, of one count of Involuntary Manslaughter. He was sentenced on January 1st, 2022, to 15 months in the custody of the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Facility. The $400 in purchase money was never recovered.

“We don’t think Ms. Johnson wanted to see her brother die, but she is definitely responsible for his death,” Thompson said. “Kids, people, need to know guns are not toys.”