The man who allegedly shot Long Island dad Paul Kutz dead during Family Weekend at upstate Marist College was reportedly a key suspect in a recent murder case — as well as a fugitive wanted on gun and drug charges.
Roy Johnson, 35, who is charged with murder in the death of the father of three at a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Poughkeepsie, was issued an arrest warrant in July by the sheriff’s office in Fulton County, Georgia, after he allegedly skipped court, WNBC reported.
Johnson had been scheduled to appear on felony gun and cocaine-dealing charges.
The following month, the suspect was investigated in the Poughkeepsie area as a key suspect in a gang-related murder, law enforcement sources told the news outlet.
Authorities wanted to arrest Johnson, but the district attorney and others allegedly wanted to wait for DNA and fingerprint evidence to come back, leaving him free to wander the streets for several months, WNBC reported, citing multiple sources.
Meanwhile, it was unclear why officials did not act on the warrant issued by the Fulton County sheriff’s office during the investigation, the outlet said.
“There may absolutely be a good reason why the arrest wasn’t made, but as a result of not effecting that arrest, there was a loss of life,” Wilbur Chapman, the former NYPD chief of patrol, told WNBC.
“So there has to be an explanation as to why the arrest was not effected,” he added.
The Town of Poughkeepsie told the station that its police force was unaware of the warrant until after Johnson was arrested in the Sunday shooting.
It added that police did not have any open homicide or robbery investigations with Johnson or Devin Taylor, who was also arrested in the Marriott shooting and charged with two counts of weapons possession.
Town of Poughkeepsie police Lt. Jason Burger told WNBC that “the last date of contact for our department with Johnson was in 2019, prior to the issuance of the warrant.”
A rep for the City of Poughkeepsie police, which is separate from the town, told the outlet that the August murder remains under investigation.
The Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office and the county sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to WNBC’s calls and emails on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, cops previously revealed that they later found bomb-making materials and a “ghost gun” rifle in the suspects’ room at the Poughkeepsie hotel.
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