Sergeant Johnston succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained three days earlier while he and another officer investigating a domestic disturbance at a hotel on West Temple Street. The hotel owner had called the officers after the male suspect threatened him with a weapon when the owner attempted to quiet the disturbance. When the officers arrived the suspect shot Sergeant Johnston in the abdomen. Sergeant Johnston was taken to St. Mark's Hospital where he died of his wounds three days later. The suspect was arrested and charged with Sergeant Johnston's murder.
Sergeant Johnston had been in law enforcement for 24 years and was survived by his wife and three children.
