The family of a 16-year-old fatally shot during the summer said the arrest of his alleged killer is bittersweet

Calvin “C.J.” Johnson IV and his three friends were standing alone on a dark corner in North Philadelphia, unfamiliar with their surroundings and trying to catch a ride home to West Philly.

The Airbnb party they’d sneaked away to the night of June 9 ended abruptly after a fight broke out, and the teens walked down the block to try to catch an Uber.

Then, suddenly, a group of young men appeared from the shadows. One pushed Johnson up against the side of a car, pressed a gun to his chest, and tried to rob him, police say.

But he had nothing to give them.

“Stop playin’ with me!” the gunman yelled, according to court records.

He then shot Johnson, 16, three times, before fleeing. Police officers rushed him to Temple University Hospital, but he died shortly after arrival.

For months, detectives interviewed witnesses, reviewed phone records, and surveyed young people who knew Johnson and the suspects. And last week, Jermaine Williford Jr., 17, was arrested in connection with the shooting and charged with murder, illegal gun possession, and related crimes. His lawyer, Douglas Stern, declined to comment.

Another 16-year-old, who police believe was present during the attempted robbery but did not shoot Johnson, has also been charged with gun crimes, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said. He declined to identify the teen because he has been charged as a juvenile. Police are still searching for the two other teens they believe were involved.

Johnson’s mother, Teahnna Jeffrey, said she prayed for months that police would catch her son’s killer, and finally seeing someone get charged brought relief — but also sadness.

The teen accused of killing her son lost his father in a shooting last fall, police said, and he killed Johnson on the day before his father’s birthday.

“We think he was looking for somebody to hurt, somebody to target,” Jeffrey said. “And he found C.J.”

When Jeffrey learned of the arrest, her initial reaction was relief, she said, but that was quickly tempered.

“I was happy, but when I found out the boy was so young,” she said, beginning to cry. “I feel sad that he doesn’t have a dad. I feel sad because … he probably felt hopeless.”

Still, she said, he should spend the rest of his life in prison for what he stole from her family: a kind, affectionate child who loved music and Pokémon.

“He stole my son’s life for no reason,” said Jeffrey, a nurse at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Calvin George Johnson IV was born in Philadelphia on Oct. 18, 2006. The third of four children, he was named after a long line of Calvin Johnsons, back to his paternal great-grandfather, and was his father’s only son.

Growing up, he split his time between living with his mother in Drexel Hill and with his father in South Jersey and West Philadelphia. He was most recently a sophomore at Sayre High School in West Philly.

Johnson was diagnosed with ADHD and a neurological disorder at a young age, his mother said. Getting through school was a challenge for him, she said, and he had movement tics that made it difficult for him to stay still.

She worries, she said, that those uncontrollable twitches might have been what triggered Williford to shoot him.

“[The shooter] told him to stop moving but he couldn’t help it,” Jeffrey said through tears.

Johnson was quietly funny, she said, and loved music. He was always wearing headphones, she said, listening to such artists as Rod Wave, Toosii, and Drake. He tended carefully to his appearance; he loved shopping, took long showers, whitened his teeth, and cared for his skin with exfoliants and lotions. He and his mother used to do face masks together, she said.

“He was always late to stuff because he had this vast routine to get ready,” she said.

Standing more than 6 feet tall, he ran the 200-meter sprint for his school’s track team. His father taught him how to lift weights, and the two would work out together at the YMCA and talk about sports.

He loved Pokemon, and his favorite animal was a red panda. He was buried, his mother said, with a stuffed red panda at his side.

For Johnson’s family, getting through each day remains a challenge.

Most mornings, Jeffrey said, she sits on the couch and breaks down as she replays memories from her son’s childhood and thinks of future milestones, such as prom and graduation, that he won’t get to experience.

She thinks of the conversations they had together, such as his curiosities about the world and religion, and the day he asked her, “Is there really a God? How do we know?” She bought him a Bible to explore the answer on his own, and he carried it in his school backpack.

For comfort some days, she holds that Bible, or she clutches a yellow card he made her in elementary school, covered in hearts and the words “I love my mom.”