DA seeks $2M bond for bowling alley shooting suspect released Sunday

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey has filed a court motion that seeks to increase Montgomery shooting suspect Tory Johnson’s bond to $2 million.

Johnson, 23, of Montgomery, was able to post bond and was released from the Montgomery County Detention Facility Sunday, the same day he’s accused of getting into an altercation that led to a shooting at an Atlanta Highway bowling alley. When the shooting was over, one man was dead and six other victims were injured.

The suspect’s bond was set at $270,000, including $150,000 for the murder charge and between $15,000 and $30,000 each for the assault charges, according to court filings. Bailey said while the bail amounts were at the maximum level of the recommended bail schedule, “these amounts are not appropriate in this case” and noted that the recommendation is there “to allow Courts to exercise their discretion, and set bail amounts in excess of the schedule when the facts support such an action.”

“The current bail amount is woefully inadequate to protect the public from this dangerous and violent criminal,” the DA stated in his motion. “To adequately protect the community, it is imperative that this Court increase the defendant’s bail and order his immediate arrest.”

Bailey contends the suspect’s charges, one count of murder and six counts of assault, warrant the increased bail. He noted that the shooting was recorded on video when it happened inside the crowded bowling alley and that six of the victims “had absolutely no involvement in the altercation that led to the shooting.”

The seventh person, “the one victim who was arguing with the defendant, was unarmed and trying to deescalate the situation,” Bailey said.

The DA also noted that the suspect “was in illegal possession of his firearm,” and that multiple witnesses who saw the shooting all agreed in interviews that Johnson was “the only person to brandish or discharge a firearm.”

The DA also pointed out that Johnson fled the scene after the shootings.

One of the victims, Jeffery Reed, 21, of Montgomery, was killed in the incident. Court documents indicate of the other victims suffered various wounds including:

• A male who was shot in both thighs
• A male who was shot in the left leg
• A male who was shot in the right arm and right abdomen
• A male who was shot in the left shoulder and right thigh
• A female who had a bullet graze wound to the head
• A male who was shot in the lower back

Bailey said two of the victims remain hospitalized, as of Monday, in life-threatening condition.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed took to Twitter Sunday following the deadly incident. “Thoughts and prayers were not enough this weekend,” Reed said. “They never have been in instances like these.”

Reed said the city would continue doing everything in its power to stop the rise in gun violence.

According to a post on the Bama Lanes Montgomery Facebook page, the bowling alley was closed Sunday. The business was not able to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Montgomery saw a record 76 homicides in 2021 and has already reported four homicides and multiple shootings less than two weeks into the new year.

Interim Montgomery Police Chief Ramona Harris said the police department is continuing to invest and expand technological resources to fight the ongoing gun violence.

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