Camp Pendleton Marine Will Be Sentenced Thursday for Shooting Up His Apartment

Sentencing is scheduled today for a Camp Pendleton-based Marine who shot up his apartment in Vista on Christmas night, prompting a standoff with sheriff's deputies.

Christopher Michael Johnson, 26, pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of shooting at an occupied dwelling.

Johnson has been accepted into San Diego's Veterans Court program, which helps members of the military with mental illness get treatment and reintegrate back into the community as productive citizens.

It's up to Judge Carlos Armour whether to allow Johnson to go into the program, said Deputy District Attorney Marnie Layon. He could also opt to sentence the defendant to as much as seven years in prison.

Johnson fired multiple rounds from his .44-caliber magnum revolver inside his apartment in the 900 block of Taylor Street in Vista around 11:50 p.m. Dec. 25.

"Rounds went through a flat-screen TV in the living room," sheriff's Sgt. Tom Ness said. "Another round, possibly fired through a bedroom patio screen door, traveled through a closed window of a nearby apartment. The window shattered and some of the vertical window blinds broke. Fragments of the bullet were located on a small kitchen table."

Sheriff's deputies attempted to contact Johnson by phone and via a public address system, Ness said. The Sheriff's Special Enforcement Detail was called to the scene after Johnson failed to respond.

"Once Johnson complied with commands and exited his apartment, deputies took him into custody without incident" about 4:45 a.m. Dec. 26, Ness said. "A number of handguns and rifles were seized from the apartment as evidence."

No one was injured by the gunfire.

—City News Service