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Tyler Johnson was 15 years old when he was fatally shot in a hotel room last February. His mother, Tomika Alexander, misses her son every day. She described him as a funny sports-lover who enjoyed spending time with his friends and family.
Photo provided by Tomika Alexander
SOUTHFIELD — One year later, Tyler Johnson's mother, Tomika Alexander of Ferndale, refuses to let her son's murder case go cold.
"Whether I'm alive or dead, we will get justice for Tyler, and that's a promise," she said.
Alexander said that her son was funny and loved sports and spending time with friends and family.
After being shot in an unsupervised hotel room in Southfield Feb. 11, 2024, the 15-year-old Detroit Loyola High student died four days later, on Feb. 15.
Four other teenagers were also in the hotel room.
The room was rented by the uncle of one of the teens, who left them unattended. According to the Southfield Police Department, it was one of the teenagers who placed the 911 call.
When police arrived at the scene, they located two juveniles trying to flee at the hotel elevator on the seventh floor and detained them for questioning.
Police recovered two handguns from one of the teenage suspects, who is a resident of Detroit.
The handguns were located in his waistband, one of which was hidden in his groin area.
One of the weapons was a Glock 22 .40-caliber handgun with a 22-round extended magazine equipped with a laser light. That weapon was reportedly stolen in Flint in 2022.
The second weapon was unregistered.
Southfield police also found a .40-caliber shell casing, 20 live rounds inside a 9mm extended magazine, marijuana, hallucinogenic mushrooms and a scale.
According to Southfield police, photos found on the teenagers' phones revealed multiple photos of them at the hotel, with a few of them handling weapons. However, none of the images point to who fired the weapon that killed Johnson and why.
On Feb. 19, the Southfield Police Department held a press conference about the unsolved case and addressed concerns of the community.
"We have four witnesses to this senseless crime, and at this time, none of them have come forward to give us an understanding of what transpired," Southfield Police Department Chief Elvin Barren stated. "We have physical evidence. We have circumstantial evidence. What we need is an eyewitness to bring those things together."
Barren said that the four teenagers who witnessed Johnson's death have lawyered up and won't speak with police.
Barren empathized with Alexander.
"I had a brother in 2007 murdered in Detroit. Case never solved. Why? Because his friends failed him,” Barren said. “So I can relate to friends not providing information."
Barren said that no developments have been made in the case because of the lack of cooperation from witnesses.
"We have an idea who did it, absolutely," he said. "But to move this case forward, there are four people who witnessed this. I need at least one of the four to have the courage to come forward and give us the information that we need. … The mother is grieving, and right now, she has a lot of frustration for law enforcement (and) the (Oakland County) Prosecutor's Office as to why her son's case has not moved forward, and she gets to grieve."
Motherhood was stripped away from Alexander. She said that now she will never see her son graduate high school, attend college, get married, or become a parent.
Alexander said that she is mad every day that the killer walks free and she doesn't want to be having the same conversation in 2026.
"We need to hold these parents accountable, and their children,” she said. “It's just ridiculous that the murderer is out here living in society as if nothing happened, around innocent kids. … I gotta go visit my son at the cemetery when his birthday comes up April (1) of this year.”
Alexander said that she once considered the families of the four other teens as close friends, but has since cut ties with them.
"At the end of the day, as a parent, if you know your child is not the person that shot Tyler, why is it a problem to come forward to tell who did shoot Tyler? So that's why I feel like every parent is just as responsible as the kids," she said.
Alexander expressed her frustrations with the lack of cooperation from the other parents and their children.
"I want the parents and the children to be locked up, and that's still not going to give me closure because when I go home and go through those doors … my son is not upstairs,” she said. “He's not calling my name; he's not texting me to tell me what he wants to eat. So yeah, I still have a problem with it."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Southfield Police Department at (248) 796-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) SPEAK-UP.
Call Staff Writer Kathryn Pentiuk at (586) 498-1070.
