Court documents: Son tried to kill father with ax in Wallace

The man who was struck in the head with an ax in Wallace last week was attacked by his son, according to court documents filed in Shoshone County Magistrate Court.

Nicholas D. Johnson, 39, of Mountain Home, Idaho, was working on the plumbing at his parents’ home on May 15 with his father, located at 312 High Bank St. in Wallace, when he decided to retrieve an axe from the home’s attic and kill the 62-year-old man, identified as Roger Johnson, court documents said.

The son told authorities he made the decision to kill his father while the older man was in the crawl space under the home and told his mother his intention, documents said. He retrieved the ax from the attic and came back to where his father was working as the older man was coming out of the crawl space.

The son swung the ax two or three times overhead as his father stood in front of him before landing a blow to his father’s head, documents said. Johnson’s mother managed to take the ax from her son and throw it out of reach.

Nicholas Johnson then picked up his mother, also 62, and told her he was going to throw her down a flight of about 30 stairs from the house’s porch onto High Bank Street, but she was able to fight him off, court documents said.

After this, Johnson said he realized what he had done and walked down the stairs onto High Bank Street and removed his clothes “because he knew he was going to jail,” documents said.

Roger Johnson was in critical condition after the incident and taken to Shoshone Medical Center and then flown to Kootenai Health, the sheriff’s office said last week. He has since been treated and released, Kootenai Health reported.

Nicholas Johnson has been charged with battery with the intent to commit a serious felony and aggravated battery.