Ammar Lewis Johnson was 28 when he was killed on March 2, 2022. Born in Spokane on July 6, 1993, he was the youngest of five children and a Lewis and Clark High School graduate. Friends and family remembered him as kind and helpful, active in multiple sports including basketball, wrestling, track and field, snowboarding, and especially football.

According to witnesses, an early-morning argument over parking in the lower South Hill apartment lot involved 56-year-old Steven B. Bronowski and included a racial slur directed at Johnson. After a witness persuaded Johnson to go back inside, he was later shot in the head at about 5:15 a.m. while opening his sliding glass door to the apartment deck; another witness reported seeing Bronowski’s van leave the scene immediately after the gunshot. Spokane police identified Steven Blain Bronowski Sr. as the suspect; warrants were issued for second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and drive-by shooting. Bronowski was arrested about two weeks later in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and while in custody admitted by phone calls to being in the parking lot, getting into a confrontation, and using a racial slur, though he claimed self-defense.

The killing ended the life of a young man remembered for his generosity and vibrant spirit. If anyone knew Ammar, his routines, or saw activity near the South Hill apartment on March 2, 2022, please come forward with information.