Amateur MMA fighter Ross Johnson was arrested and charged with manslaughter for allegedly killing US Air Force airman Dayvon Larry with a single punch in a bar fight.
Panama City police allege the 23-year-old MMA fighter and a group of his friends engaged in a verbal altercation with another group of people at the Coyote Ugly Saloon in Panama Beach City that eventually led to the attack, according to an affidavit posted by Law and Crime Network. Johnson allegedly struck Larry behind his left ear, causing a “softball size hematoma on he victim behind his left ear,” according to the affidavit.
23-year-old Ross Johnson — an amateur MMA fighter — is charged with punching and killing a man in a fight outside Coyote Ugly in Panama City Beach. https://t.co/lGg7Uq7cAp
— WEAR ABC 3 (@weartv) April 11, 2023
An autopsy identified a “3 inch skull fracture on the victim’s skull where the trauma occurred,” and declared Larry’s preliminary cause of death to be blunt force trauma, according to the affidavit. Johnson is currently being held on $250,000 bond, according to TMZ.
“Man, I hit that guy,” Johnson allegedly told a witness, according to police. “I laid him out, and I think I killed him,” the affidavit said.
Video surveillance obtained as part of the investigation shows that Larry was left unconscious at the scene. Johnson fled the scene in a vehicle.
Police said there were inconsistencies in Johnson’s statement.
“During the interview the defendant continuously omitted facts regarding the incident. Particularly; to include talking to a female he had met via the social media platform Snapchat about the victim,” police wrote in the affidavit.
“In the message he notes “Dude is still not moving.” (RELATED: MMA Fighter Iuri Lapicus Dead At Age 27)
Larry was stationed at Panama City’s Tyndall Air Force Base. Johnson as identified as a mixed martial artist with five wins and two losses, as well as three years of advanced fighting training, according to TMZ.