Lansing man accused of holding woman, child hostage for hours said he had 'anger issues'

LANSING — A man charged with holding his girlfriend and infant child hostage for hours before surrendering to police last week had "turned on all the stove burners" and had a "flare" or piece of fireworks in his hand when the incident started, court records said.

That information was given to Lansing police officers when they responded to a home in the 1500 block of North Matin Luther King Jr. Boulevard about 7 p.m. July 11 and led to Consumers Energy shutting off natural gas to a block of homes, according to police and court documents.

Police said Tommie Lee Johnson threatened to set the house on fire. They negotiated with him for hours before he agreed to release the woman and child, and Johnson came out around 1:37 a.m. July 12, an officer said in a document that led to charges being issued.

"Officers were able to convince Johnson that he was not in trouble as a tactic to have him safely exit the residence," the officer wrote. "Johnson agreed to come out of the residence and was taken into custody by START officers at approximately 0137 hours."

Johnson, 24, was charged last week with eight felony counts, including arson, unlawful imprisonment, possession of explosives with unlawful intent, second-degree child abuse and assault with intent to do great bodily harm, court records indicate. He also faces two misdemeanor counts of domestic violence, including assaulting a pregnant victim, the records indicated.

Johnson pleaded not guilty to the charges at his July 13 arraignment. Court records indicated he was represented by appointed counsel during the hearing. The Ingham County Public Defender office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Friday afternoon.

A judge set a $200,000 cash bond for Johnson.

The police affidavit suggested some of the charges stemmed from incidents that happened before July 11. It said Johnson and his girlfriend had been together for about a year and have a four-month-old baby.

On July 11 and 12, officers had "on and off " conversations with Johnson over several hours, according to the affidavit. Johnson told them he "has anger issues" and assured them his girlfriend and child were unharmed. He eventually agreed to let them leave to "get checked out by medics," the document said.

After surrendering to police, Johnson was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, the document said.

Contact Ken Palmer atkpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.