The alleged assailant, De’Andre Johnson, was apprehended and now faces four charges, including attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, November 5, at Mesa Tower near Southern Avenue and Alma School Road. According to the Mesa Police Department, Johnson held the DCS worker in a chokehold for about two and a half minutes.
The employee had been handling a case involving Johnson’s daughter, and the attack was reportedly live-streamed on Johnson’s social media account. In the video, the victim can be seen speaking with Johnson for nearly an hour in the lobby of Mesa Tower. At one point, they discuss whether Johnson’s children may have experienced abuse or neglect, with the worker indicating he didn’t foresee the case escalating further.
When the conversation concludes, Johnson asks the DCS worker for a “dap” (a friendly fist bump), but he then immediately launches into an attack, repeatedly calling the worker a “dead man.”
In another video reviewed by ABC15, Johnson is seen at his daughter’s school, expressing frustration about not being informed of her private interview with DCS in a school conference room. In the recording, he says: “School staff don’t think it’s their job to tell me that my daughter is going into a room… with the door closed with a man, and they can’t tell me what happened. And now my daughter doesn’t want to come back to school. We got issues. You’re going to get to know me today.”
Police informed Johnson that DCS is authorized to interview his child without prior notification.
Court records also show that Johnson was previously convicted of aggravated assault in 2017.