Man killed by officer in shooting outside Richland County club ID’d by coroner
The day after a man was shot and killed by a South Carolina police officer, he was publicly identified by the Richland County Coroner’s Office.
Cody A. Johnson, a 32-year-old Lexington resident, is the man who died in the Sunday morning shooting, Coroner Naida Rutherford said Monday.
At about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, the shooting happened at Relapse Bar & Grill, which is at 5024 Two Notch Road, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said. That’s an unincorporated part of Richland County, in the Forest Acres area of Columbia.
Cpl. Daniel Haddad, an officer with the Forest Acres Police Department shot and killed Johnson, who Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said was driving erratically and threatening the lives of people in the club’s parking lot.
Haddad was patrolling the 5000 block of Two Notch Road when a vehicle driving erratically almost hit his patrol vehicle, the sheriff’s department said. The officer activated his blue lights, and siren at some point, in an attempt to stop the vehicle, according to Lott.
The vehicle continued to drive erratically as it entered the club’s parking lot, the sheriff’s department said. Haddad got out of his patrol vehicle, then gave constant commands for the driver, later identified as Johnson, to stop, according to the sheriff’s department.
Rather than follow the orders, the driver continued to the back of the club where there were lots of vehicles and people in the parking lot, Lott said. The driver accelerated, almost hitting a security guard and others, the sheriff’s department said.
That’s when Haddad fired his weapon, according to the sheriff’s department.
“At that point the officer fired his weapon, hit the subject numerous times. He was pronounced dead at the scene,” Lott said Sunday at a news conference. “The suspect was in his vehicle and he was driving his vehicle in such a way that the officer felt that people’s lives were in danger.”
The sheriff’s department is investigating the shooting, with assistance from the coroner’s office, and will turn over any findings to the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, according to Lott.
“They will determine the justification or non-justification of the shooting,” Lott said.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThis is a breaking news story
In a breaking news situation, facts can be unclear and the situation may still be developing. The State is trying to get important information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, and some information in this story may change as the facts become clearer. Refresh this page later for more updated information.
This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 12:28 PM.
