Man held for trial in slaying of Marine vet outside Olney bar

As a Marine Corps sergeant, Howard White survived tours in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq. But White did not survive the 25-year-old stranger who allegedly disarmed him in June outside an Olney bar and then shot him with his Marine service pistol.

On Wednesday, Randy Johnson was ordered to stand trial on charges including murder, attempted murder, assault, and burglary in a bizarre sequence of events that began inside the Green Parrot Tavern and ended with Johnson's allegedly breaking into a house in a futile attempt to evade pursuers.

"I'm not going to say anything?" Johnson asked as sheriff's deputies escorted him from court after Wednesday's preliminary hearing before Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge David C. Shuter.

Jorge Arroyo, who described himself as White's cousin through marriage, testified that he and White, 47, decided to stop for some beers late June 29 at the tavern in the 700 block of West Spencer Street.

Questioned by Assistant District Attorney Louis Tumolo, Arroyo said he and White were watching boxing on the tavern TV when a man he identified as Johnson entered and asked the bartender for a light for his cigarette.

Arroyo testified that the bartender said he didn't have matches and added that smoking wasn't allowed in the Green Parrot. The stranger persisted, Arroyo continued, aggressively accosting patrons and even going behind the bar.

Arroyo said he was suspicious and asked White to look outside to "see if anything strange was going on." After White returned and said he saw nothing, Arroyo said, he went outside and saw a man get out of a red Chevrolet Malibu, walk up to the bar window, and peer inside. The driver then returned to the car and drove off, but returned to the block before speeding away again, Arroyo said.

By this point, Arroyo said, the stranger had been forced from the bar and White was escorting him to the corner of Fairhill Street. Arroyo said he was about 15 feet away when he saw his cousin suddenly back up with his hands raised, followed by two gunshots.

White groaned and fell to the sidewalk, and the stranger fled. Arroyo said he ran to the corner, drew one of two licensed pistols he was carrying, and shot once in the air. Arroyo said the stranger turned and fired four to six rounds at him. "He emptied the gun," he testified.

Arroyo said he was not wounded and continued to chase the gunman up Fairhill until he ducked behind a building and he lost him.

The narrative was continued by the second prosecution witness, Javier Vazquez Sr., 56, who said he was asleep with his wife in their second-floor bedroom on nearby North Sixth Street when she awakened him and said someone was in the house.

Vazquez said he chased the intruder downstairs and caught him in the darkened kitchen. He said the intruder struck him in the face several times with a metal object he believed was a gun.

As they grappled, Vazquez said, the intruder stuck the gun in his belly and said: "Bang, bang."

"I think he was trying to scare me," Vazquez added.

By this time, Vazquez's son, 23-year-old Javier Jr., had come down from his room and together they subdued the man, whom Vazquez identified as Johnson. Police arrived moments later and took Johnson into custody, he said.

Defense attorney Bobby Hoof argued that Johnson should not be tried for first- or second-degree murder – both charges carry a mandatory life prison term upon conviction – because Johnson was unarmed and suddenly faced two armed men.

But Shuter said the fact that White was shot after he raised his hands was enough for Johnson to be tried on a murder charge.