The Denton Police Department has made an arrest in the shooting death of 20-year-old University of North Texas student and Zeta Tau Alpha sorority sister Sara Mutschlechner, who was shot while being the designated driver for friends after a New Year’s party.
Eric Jamal Johnson was arrested for murder by the U.S. Marshal Service on Tuesday morning in Yuma, Arizona.
Reports say Eric Jamal Johnson, 20, is an active-duty U.S. Marine. Although police did not call him the shooter, witnesses said he was driving the SUV and was seen holding a handgun, WFAA says.
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Corporal Eric Jamal Johnson was arrested by U.S. Marshals at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. He is an administrative specialist at the base, but goes by the street name “Santana Sage,” police said at a press conference. He joined the Marines in 2013.
Johnson has been held in Arizona and faces extradition to Texas.
See attached press release in reference to the arrest of the suspect in the murder of Sara Mutschlechner. pic.twitter.com/S4E6ses8i6
— Denton Police Dept (@DENTONPD) January 5, 2016
Mutschlechner was a student at University of North Texas, but she graduated from San Marcos High School and her family lives in Martindale.
In the early hours of New Year’s Day, there was communication between “five or six African American males” in an SUV and the occupants of the car Sara was driving. According to the police, “words were exchanged between the occupants of the SUV and the occupants in the victim’s vehicle” before a person fired multiple shots at Mutschlechner’s car. She has shot in the head, then the car crashed into another vehicle and an electrical pole. At least two people in the SUV were at the same party as Mutschlechner, witnesses say.
Mutschlechner was found by officers about 2 a.m. Friday in the 1700 block of North Elm Street, lying outside the sedan she had been driving. The three other passengers only sustained minor injuries.
Denton police just released this picture of 20-yr-old Sara Mutschlechner's car. She was shot while driving this a.m. pic.twitter.com/Vl7J1VRMbn
— Jason Allen (@CBS11JasonAllen) January 1, 2016
Sara was the philanthropy chair of ZTA, whose philanthropic focus is breast cancer, and had done additional volunteer work for the American Cancer Society. Sara was also a registered organ donor and The Daily Mail reports that she has already saved the life of one burn victim.
Denton police plan to release more information about the arrest at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
This story is developing. Refresh for new details as they emerge.
