BY JEN NOWELL
Daily Post Staff Writer
The three children of the man who was shot and killed backstage during a rap concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View have filed a lawsuit which directly accuses rapper Young Jeezy of the murder, saying he fired several shots as he stood over the victim who had fallen to the ground.
Eric Nathan Johnson II, 38, of Oakland, was shot multiple times on Aug. 22, 2014, while backstage at the concert. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
The lawsuit, was initially filed May 11, 2015, but an amended complaint filed Feb. 14, 2017, provides new details about the night of the murder.
Johnson, who ran the concert promotion company Full Pull Entertainment and organized promotional events at nightclubs with guest appearances by celebrities, was backstage at the concert to confirm Young Jeezy’s appearance at a San Jose nightclub later that night, according to the suit.
Around 11 p.m., there was an argument between Johnson and someone who may have been a part of Young Jeezy’s entourage.
Sometime later, after Johnson had returned to his car which was parked in the backstage area, a man approached his BMW and shot several rounds into the front driver’s side door and window, according to the lawsuit.
Johnson, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, got out of the car and tried to run away, the suit claims. The man followed Johnson, while continuing to shoot. When Johnson fell to the ground, the shooter stood over him and fired additional shots, the lawsuit states.
Two witnesses
After filing the wrongful death lawsuit, the family learned of two witnesses who allegedly saw the shooting, and the family tracked down the witnesses who were working the concert as stagehands.
One of the witnesses told police that night that the shooter looked like Young Jeezy, and he later circled Young Jeezy’s photo in a six-person photo-lineup, according to the lawsuit. The second witness worked with police to create a sketch of the shooter, which “eerily resembles Young Jeezy,” the suit claims.
“The shooter must have had intimate knowledge of all the inner workings of the concert, as the shooting took place at a time when the concert was scheduled to have no police presence backstage and there was a loud, explosive pyrotechnics display taking place,” the suit states.
Nobody was searched
The family also learned that none of the rappers, their entourages or their tour buses were searched prior to entering Shoreline Amphitheater, “despite the rappers’ extensive histories of themselves having engaged in violent acts or having violent crimes occur at places, events and concerts where they performed,” the suit states.
The suit cites previous shootings at the concerts of both Young Jeezy and Rich Homie Quan, who was also set to perform the night of the shooting.
Young Jeezy and five others were arrested in August 2014 in Irvine and an AK-47 was found in his possession. Jeezy and the others each pleaded innocent to a single count of felony possession of an assault weapon.
The case against them was later dismissed.
The lawsuit names Live Nation, Young Jeezy, Def Jam Recordings and NPB Companies which was responsible for providing the security for the tour.
Charles Dennis, Eric Johnson’s eldest son, and the victim’s two younger children claim in their lawsuit that the “defendants’ failures was the creation of an extremely unsafe environment that made it foreseeable that a shooting could occur.”
Uniformed officers kept away
Live Nation and NPB also prohibited uniformed officers from being in the backstage area, the suit claims.
The family’s lawsuit doesn’t say how much it is seeking in damages, but it is asking for damages to cover the costs of lost wages, funeral expenses, attorneys’ fees and punitive damages.
A lawsuit filed by Johnson’s mother, Roseanna Robinson, in July 2015 is now being consolidated with this lawsuit filed by his three children.
Her lawsuit was filed against Live Nation; Shoreline Amphitheater Ltd.; the city of Mountain View; Def Jam Records; Young Jeezy, whose real name is Jay Wayne Jenkins; and the rapper’s entourage which included David Kuniansky-Altman, Alexa Beason, Peter Maynard, Willie Gilmore and Kena Marshall.
Mountain View police spokeswoman Katie Nelson told the Post yesterday that because the case is still under investigation, the department is not commenting.
In February 2015, police released two sketches of the shooter — one with hair and one without. The gunman was described as a black man in his 20s with short hair who was between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-8.
