The names of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Ashley Rae Johnston on Christmas morning outside the Mendenhall Valley Breeze In, as well as additional details of the incident, were released by the Juneau Police Department on Thursday.
The one officer who fired his gun at Johnston is a six-year veteran of the department who does not appear to have any record of police misconduct. Two other JPD officers present at the scene both have been on the force for less than two years.
Johnston, 30, was killed after threatening a person at the Breeze In with a hammer and then wielding a hatchet while approaching officers who responded to the scene, according to a JPD information release.
“During the phone call between the caller and dispatch, the suspect could be heard screaming and making threats in the background,” the updated narrative states. “A JPD officer responded to the scene and was immediately met by the suspect in the parking lot. The suspect walked towards the officer with a hatchet in her hand. The hatchet had an axe-like blade on one side with a hammer head on the other.”
Two additional officers arrived at the scene, but Johnston continued yelling and ignoring orders to put the hatchet down, according to JPD. One of the officers deployed a Taser that struck Johnston, but appeared to have no effect.
”The suspect continued to advance toward the officers with the hatchet in her hand,” the release states. “One officer discharged his firearm and Ashley Rae Johnston was struck. Capital City Fire/Rescue responded to the scene. After providing initial care and evaluation, Ms. Johnston was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The officer who fired his weapon was Jonah Hennings-Booth, according to the release. He is not a named party in any cases in the Alaska Court System’s online database. The Alaska Brady List, which tracks “officer misconduct, decertification, public complaints, use-of-force reports, do-not-call listings [Giglio letter], and more potential impeachment disclosures,” states “This Individual is a certified officer; but, has no Brady material at this time.”
Jonah Hennings-Booth (left) and Duain White are sworn in as Juneau Police Department officers by then-Chief Ed Mercer on Feb. 21, 2019. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Hennings-Booth, sworn in as a JPD officer in February of 2019, was an Eagle River resident at the time who had worked for the Alaska Wildlife Troopers as a public safety technician. He born in Anchorage, raised in Eagle River and Nome, and said at the time of his swearing in he was drawn to law enforcement because of the unpredictable nature of the job.
“Every day is new,” he said. “When I was a public safety technician with the wildlife troopers, I never knew what my day was going to entail. I didn’t know if I was going to be doing an investigation on a bear that was poached, if I was going to be doing commercial fishing patrolling or if anyone was not inside the district and not abiding by the laws and regulations set by the state. It’s completely different on a day-to-day basis.”
The other officers present during the incident were Anthony Bates, who graduated from the Alaska Law Enforcement Academy in November of 2023, and Geoff Davis, who joined JPD in September of 2023.
Bates is mentioned briefly in the report of another officer-involved shooting last year that resulted in the death of Steven Kissack on July 15, as a detective who interviewed a witness nine days after the shooting.
Johnston was an unhoused resident in Juneau for many years. Her mother, in an interview with the Empire the day after the Christmas Day shooting, said Johnston was separated from both of her parents by the age of 2 and had been living on the streets much of her life since the age of 12.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI) and Juneau Police Department are continuing the investigation into the incident, and that investigation will be reviewed by the State of Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions, which is standard procedure for all officer-involved shootings, according to JPD.
“(Bodycam footage) is generally published no later than two weeks after an investigation is completed and any related court proceedings involving the incident have been closed,” the release notes. “It is our intent to release the Body Worn Camera (BWC) video footage to the public as soon as practicable.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
