FAIRMONT —
For three tense months in 1988, domestic violence exacted its most terrifying price as three Fairmont women were gunned down, two in broad daylight, two the victim of murder-suicide.
It was around 1:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15, 1988. Just a normal summer day in Fairmont. Kids played at the park. Workers in the downtown area were either coming back from lunch or leaving for a late bite to eat.
It was the perfect day to lazily stroll up and down Adams Street, slipping inside the shops, waving to friends across the street.
The tranquil early afternoon peace was shattered by the sharp report of a gun firing six times and then the squeal of tires as a car sped off.
Sandra Johnson, 34, of Fairmont, had been to the cemetery earlier to visit the grave of her mother, Catherine Terry, who had died July 8. In the car with her were her sister, Louise Gibson; daughter, Shemkia, 11; and niece, Nicole, 12. Johnson was almost nine months pregnant, due to deliver her baby in a week or two.
Driving back from the cemetery, they’d been followed by Zackary Lewis, reportedly the father of Johnson’s unborn baby. He would drive up one side or the other of their maroon Chevrolet Spectrum.
Worried and nervous, Johnson drove to the Fairmont Police Station on Monroe Street. Before anyone could get out of the car, Lewis drove up, jumped out of his 1977 Grand Prix and ran to Johnson’s car. They’d locked the doors and rolled up the windows, but that didn’t stop him. Lewis took aim with his .25 caliber Raven and shot her six times point blank, shattering the glass. She slumped to her right, toward the passenger’s seat. Her blood left a smear on the passenger’s side window.
Then Lewis fled in his car.
Local News
Related Photos
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The parking lot of the former Fairmont Police Station on Monroe Street was the scene of the murder of Sandra Johnson on Aug. 15, 1988, by Zackary Lewis, reportedly a former boyfriend. He had been following her in town, and when she pulled into the lot he shot her point blank through the windows of her car. PHOTO BY DEBBIE WILSON
Crimes of passion?
Domestic violence plays role in 1988 murders of three women
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