Man who shot woman at Md. gas station had lengthy criminal history

Montgomery County police said a man who shot a woman at a Germantown gas station Tuesday afternoon should not have been on the street.

Police identified the gunman as 42-year-old Johnnie Perkins of Germantown, a man who had a lengthy rap sheet and was in and out of jail since 1992 for charges related to guns, drugs and assaults.

In 2012, he served only a year and a half of a 20-year sentence for distributing drugs, FOX 5's Emily Miller has learned.

Police said Perkins was arrested for illegal guns and drugs as recently as July 12. He was out on bail at the time of the murder-suicide.

His lawyer said Perkins was due in court this coming Friday and was afraid he would face another 18 years in prison for violating his parole.

"He never changed his environment and he kept falling back into those same patterns and then kept finding himself being incarcerated," said defense attorney Chip Lipscomb.

Perkins was in the passenger seat of the vehicle at the gas station just before 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when police said he fatally shot his companion, 34-year-old Shakina Perkins-Moody.

Her 16-year-old daughter was pumping gas at the time of the shooting.

Police said Perkins later shot himself after being approached by an off-duty police officer who was nearby the Washingtonian Express gas station.

The police chief said the murder could have been prevented.

"The criminal justice system has to recognize when we have an individual who has demonstrated for 20 plus years that he is engaged in violent crime, gun convictions, arrested with guns, over and over again, and yet doesn't have to face the consequences for the severity of these charges," said Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger.

No one else was injured in the incident. The off-duty officer did not discharge his firearm.