Inset: Derek Lewis (Blue Ridge Regional Jail – Lynchburg). Background: The restaurant where Lewis shot and killed another man in Lynchburg, Va. (Google Maps).
A Virginia man will spend several decades behind bars for shooting and killing another man at a restaurant, a judge determined earlier this week in the Old Dominion.
In February 2025, Derek Lewis, 31, was found guilty by a jury of his peers on one count each of murder in the second degree, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, shooting in commission of a felony, and maliciously discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling.
On Wednesday, Circuit Court Judge F. Patrick Yeatts sentenced the defendant to 63 years in prison – with eight years of his sentence suspended. In total, Lewis will spend 55 years in prison for the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Tyler Johnson in November 2022.
The underlying incident occurred at the Iron & Ale restaurant on Cornerstone Street in Lynchburg. On the night in question, Lewis shot Johnson because he thought the victim and the victim's mother were making fun of him, according to The News & Advance.
"The bottom line here is Tyler Johnson is dead, and he absolutely should not be," Lynchburg Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dianna Baker told jurors before the verdict was delivered. "He knew exactly what he was doing."
The defense, for their part, argued there was no malice behind the shooting because Johnson was aggressive and "coming in hot" toward Lewis, who was backing up at the time the gun was fired.
The confrontation between the two men began after Lewis erased part of a specials chalkboard, Lewis himself testified, according to a courtroom report by Lynchburg-based ABC affiliate WSET.
Describing the incident as self-defense, the since-condemned man said Johnson angrily approached him and told him not to touch things that were not his – and then followed him into the bathroom to lodge a threat. After that, the defendant testified, he walked over to Johnson and his mother to apologize before the woman said to let it go. As Lewis walked away, however, he said he heard laughter and mocking, so he offered a middle finger response. Then, things escalated, Lewis said.
"Oh, hell no," Johnson allegedly said. "Do you have a problem?"
Lewis said he answered in the negative but the victim, apparently adamant on a contretemps, replied: "Well, you do now."
The killer said the victim began "closing in" and threatened: "Let's take this outside. I'll stab your b– a–." Then, Lewis said, Johnson shoved him into a wall, held him "in his grip" and left a bruise on his arm. After that, the bullet came – traveling through Johnson's heart and ending in his spine.
As it turned out, Johnson was the restaurant owner's son. Lewis said he did not know that at the time of the incident.
In the end, the jury agreed with the state.
After the shooting, Lewis left the restaurant and ran to his mother's house some two miles away. Then, he drove to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland and bought a plane ticket bound for Cancun, Mexico. He boarded his flight and was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, during a layover.
"This was so avoidable," Yeatts said during the sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by The News & Advance. "I wish Mr. Johnson had never approached you."
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