Man who stabbed 5 at Homestead mental health facility gets 30 to 60 years

JoAnn Latshaw spent years organizing medications for her patients at Turtle Creek Valley Mental Health.

Now, more than two years after she was critically injured in Dustin Johnson’s 2016 stabbing spree at the facility, she cannot keep track of her own medications.

“It’s frustrating to not be able to do those very things for myself now,” she told Allegheny County Judge Donna Jo McDaniel on Tuesday during Johnson’s sentencing hearing.

Johnson, 40, pleaded guilty but mentally ill in October to five counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, plus one count of arson and risking a catastrophe in the Nov. 11, 2016, rampage in the Homestead mental health facility.

Armed with a gun and a knife, Johnson stabbed and slashed five people at the facility where he’d previously received treatment, and he tried unsuccessfully to set the building ablaze, authorities said.

McDaniel sentenced him to 30 to 60 years in prison.

Heather Parrilla, who was stabbed repeatedly in the attack, told the court about one of her sessions with Johnson, in which he described fantasizing about hurting others, all with a twinkle in his eyes.

“He told me that he didn’t want his victims to die, and that his goal was for them to endure lifelong suffering as a result of his actions,” Parrilla said in an impact statement. He smiled, she said, and “it was the first time I’d felt genuinely afraid of a client.”

She said the attack was carefully planned.

“He knew what he was doing,” she said.

Latshaw, Parrilla and Samantha Green were among the five people Johnson stabbed on the fifth floor of the facility. Most were stabbed in the head, neck and back, according to the original criminal complaint.

Green told the court about the last “good and normal thing” she remembered doing the day of the attack: She made dinner plans with her father to celebrate Veteran’s Day and his 21 years of service.

She said she heard a scream and ran to help. Johnson confronted her and stabbed her in the neck.

“I grabbed my throat and ran in an effort to escape,” she said. “As I staggered back to the office, blood poured from my wounds down the front of me and left a trail on the floor behind me.”

Green said she thought she would die, and she texted her father to tell him she loved him.

Attempts to talk Johnson out of the building failed. He became even more agitated when SWAT officers arrived. He pointed what appeared to be a black handgun at officers, who opened fire and wounded Johnson. His weapon turned out to be a CO2-powered air gun with no orange tip. Johnson survived.

Johnson’s plea of guilty but mentally ill does not affect his sentence of 30 to 60 years in prison, but rather means that he will receive mental health treatment in prison.

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, mguza@tribweb.com or via Twitter @meganguzaTrib.