Two dead after Wednesday morning shooting

CLOVIS — The Clovis man charged with killing two men on Wednesday morning ran from police and tried to hide from them in a water-heater closet before he was arrested, records show.

Danny Price, 54, was booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon. Charges include murder, aggravated battery and firearm possession by a felon in connection with the deaths.

Ricky Johnson, 58, died in a Lubbock hospital and Kennedy Hodge, 53, died at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis.

Motive for the shootings was not immediately clear.

Clovis Police Lt. Trevor Thron told The News that officers first saw Price running in the area of Seventh and Ross streets as they were responding to multiple reports of shots fired.

Officers pursued Price and lost sight of him in the 700 block of Ross, but Thron said Price was ultimately found hiding in the water closet behind a residence in the 700 block of Ross.

Price was detained and patted down, but officers initially found no weapon on him.

Thron said Price was seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt as he fled police, but he was no longer wearing it when police located him. A search of the area over the next few hours, Thron said, resulted in discovery of the hooded sweatshirt with a firearm underneath.

Price made his first appearance Friday afternoon in Curry County Magistrate Court. No attorney is listed for Price in court records.

According to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday afternoon in the magistrate court:

• Clovis police responded to numerous calls, beginning at 8:22 a.m. Wednesday, about shots fired near the intersection of Fifth and Ross streets. While en route to the scene, an officer recognized Price and heard over the radio about a suspect matching his description.

• A witness near the shooting scene told police a man matching Price’s description shot one man twice, once while he was on the ground, and also shot a second man before fleeing on foot. The witness, also contacted by The News, said he did not know any of the three men.

• Hodge succumbed to his injuries soon after arriving at Plains Regional Medical Center.

• Johnson, who suffered a gunshot wound to his abdominal area, was helped by another man to a nearby store. From there he was taken to PRMC by ambulance, and later flown to Lubbock where he died.

This is Price’s third time in the Curry County jail this year. He was booked Feb. 22 as an out-of-state fugitive, and released March 10 following a fax from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that the warrant was no longer in effect.

Price was booked again March 27 on a charge of battery against a household member. Jail Administrator Mark Gallegos told The News he was released March 29 on an appearance bond.

“At the time of release,” Gallegos said, “we conducted (a) local and national search for warrants and holds, and at this time there was not an out of state fugitive warrant by the state of Texas.”

Gallegos said holds are dropped for various reasons, and he did not know specifics for Price’s case.

Messages sent Thursday to Texas’ parole and probation offices regarding Price were not returned.