A routine traffic stop in Tulsa turned fatal in late June 2020 when Sergeant Craig Johnson, 45 and a 15-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department, was shot during the encounter. The stop began around 3:30 a.m. on June 29, 2020, after an officer from Sergeant Johnson’s squad pulled over a vehicle. The driver, David Ware, refused to exit and resisted non-lethal measures; when Sergeant Johnson and Officer Aurash Zarkeshan tried to remove Ware, he produced a handgun from under the driver’s seat and fired, striking both officers in the head and torso.

Sergeant Johnson died of his wounds the next day, leaving a wife and two sons. Ware fled with assistance from a friend, Matthew Hall, who drove the getaway; Ware was arrested later that day and Hall was taken into custody. Officer Zarkeshan survived and returned to work in November 2020. Ware was later convicted of first-degree murder and related charges and sentenced to death; Hall was convicted of two counts of accessory to a felony. Legislative changes known as the Sgt. Craig Johnson Act were enacted to strengthen Oklahoma’s accessory to murder statute after questions arose about prosecuting an accomplice who fled before a victim died.

Does anyone have additional details about the early-morning traffic stop or the events immediately following the shooting?