Grandmother Fatally Punched in French Quarter; Brother Has ‘No Earthly Idea Why’

The brother of an Alabama-born grandmother who was fatally punched on a French Quarter street last week is trying to understand what motivated her killing, but he expressed relief Wednesday that police had captured a suspect.

“We have no earthly idea why this happened,” said Jeffrey Johnson, brother of Margaret “Jane” Johnson Street. {snip}

Margaret Johnson Street

New Orleans police say Johnson Street, 61, got into an argument with Jeremiah Mark, 23, in the 100 block of Royal Street on April 18 at about 7:45 p.m. Details about the argument haven’t been available, but Mark punched Johnson Street in the face, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the concrete, police wrote in a sworn statement filed in Criminal District Court.

Jeremiah Mark

She was taken to University Medical Center, where staffers diagnosed her with a traumatic brain injury. She died April 20, and her death was classified a homicide after an autopsy two days later, police said.

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They booked him with manslaughter, which Louisiana law defines as an unintentional yet unjustifiable killing. {snip}

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He said his family first feared Johnson Street was attacked during a robbery. But then they realized nothing had been stolen from her.

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