The May 2025 shooting death of a 19-year-old Autryville man has been ruled a justifiable homicide, 5th Prosecutorial District Attorney Ernie Lee said Wednesday afternoon.
Lee said he came to that conclusion after a lengthy Sampson Sheriff’s Office investigation that included detailed witness statements, autopsy results, photographs and video of the May 18, 2025 shooting death of Johnny Brian Guin Jr., of 357 Hayne Stretch Road.
“I have determined that Guin’s death, while tragic, was justified because his actions caused the individual who fired the fatal shots to reasonably believe it necessary to use deadly force to protect his life and the lives of others at the scene,” Lee said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon, citing a release on the incident that detailed the probe.
Last May, just hours after the shooting occurred, Sheriff’s Capt. Marcus Smith told The Sampson Independent that the case was like a tangled maze.
“There is a unique set of circumstances surrounding this case,” Smith said about the shooting, which killed Guin and injured another 19-year-old Sampson man. For that reason, the captain said, officers were withholding the name of the second individual.
The injured man, Lee noted Wednesday, was not the shooter, and he stressed that the name of the 22-year-old Sampson man who fired the fatal shots that killed Guin would also not be released.
“Because this was justified, I won’t be releasing their names,” Lee stressed.
Details of the argument and impending confrontation at the 1696 Butler Island Road residence paint a picture of a party-like atmosphere on that Sunday afternoon, one where five of the six individuals present were drinking, some partaking in marijuana use, after a trip to White Lake.
Guin, Lee noted, had a blood alcohol level of .28, 3.5 times the legal limit for driving, and was armed.