Â鶹´«Ã½

"Oh, what’s up, man?�

That's how Brandon Dean Johnson greeted police serving a search warrant at his house on March 24, according to surveillance video.

Moments later, he was handcuffed outside his home at 609 S. Main St., Drexel, and within hours he was booked at the Burke County Jail under a charge of communicating a threat of mass violence at a school. 

The arrest came after a source told police Johnson had a manifesto on his computer detailing plans to commit a shooting at Drexel Elementary School. Johnson’s family says he was set up by the source.

A search warrant provides some details of the case.

Tip to police

Investigators interviewed a source on Jan. 21 who said they were in Johnson’s bedroom looking at his laptop when they saw a tab on the screen that said “Manifesto.�

When the source opened the tab, they said they saw “plans to commit a school shooting at Drexel Elementary School and cause as many casualties as possible,� the search warrant said.

The source told police there were aerial plans of the school attached to the manifesto, and multiple other Burke County schools were listed. The search warrant did not say which other schools were listed.

The source said Johnson became angry when he saw the source looking at the file, but eventually calmed down and “began describing the plan and attempted to recruit the (source) to help with the attack,� the search warrant said.

The source told police the information was stored on a thumb drive in the laptop, and said Johnson had obtained AR-15-style rifles, body armor/ballistic vests and ammunition.

Contact with Johnson

The search warrant said Drexel Police Chief Stephen Ritchie went to Johnson’s home on March 20 after learning of the tip. Johnson agreed to talk to Ritchie and walk through the home.

Ritchie saw a ballistic vest in plain view when he walked through the home and a computer with storage devices that matched what the source described, according to the search warrant.

He also saw an AR-15-style rifle on Johnson’s bed. Ritchie picked up the rifle and removed the magazine, which was full of ammunition, the search warrant said.

A few days later, police returned to Johnson’s home with the search warrant on March 24 at about 2 p.m. Police seized two pistols, an AR-15, seven flash drives, two SD cards, receipts, a cellphone, two 30-round AR-15 magazines and other ammunition.

Ritchie said in a statement Thursday there is no more information to release at this point. 

"We have no further information to release at this time, except that at this point during our investigation, no information has been found that supports additional or potential threats of any kind to any of our schools," Ritchie said in a release. "We’ve been in contact with Burke County Schools’ administration and increased law enforcement presence at Drexel area schools."

Family defends Johnson

Johnson’s sister, Kelly Boggs, said her brother has been bedbound from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and has multiple seizures a day. It can cause the dislocation of joints and joint pain, according to the Mayo Clinic. Boggs said Johnson wouldn't be capable of carrying out a school shooting.

“Brandon is not one that would harm kids,� Boggs said. “He don’t even go to school property.�

She said the bulletproof vest police found was a Christmas gift Johnson received from a cousin. She said the family had the guns to protect themselves, and the pistols belonged to Boggs and her mom.

Boggs said Johnson told her he didn’t do anything like what he’s accused of doing. She said he told her he was falsely accused by someone who is in jail for a child sex crime.

“He’s been locked up for a year,� Boggs said. “He didn’t see nothing on my brother’s computer. How could he see anything?�

She said the police informant texted her brother swearing off their friendship. 

"Karma is coming for you Satan," part of the text message said.

She said since the news of Johnson’s arrest broke on March 25, people have driven by her mom’s house staring and yelling out of their car windows.

“Brandon has no reason to harm kids,� Boggs said. “He’s actually lost his own kids and has been very devastated over losing his own kids.�

Johnson remains in jail under a $200,000 secured bond. He’s due back in court on Friday.