BAY CITY, MI — A Canton man has received probation for shooting another man inside Bay City’s Baytown Family Neighborhood.

Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran on Monday, Nov. 18, sentenced Dion J. Johnson, 27, to two years’ probation. The judge gave Johnson credit for four days served in jail and deferred an additional 361 days, which Johnson would have to serve if he violates probation.

Johnson in October pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon. The charge is a four-year felony. In exchange, the prosecution dismissed two counts of felony firearm — a conviction of which mandates a two-year prison sentence — and one count of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder.

Johnson’s conviction stems from a shooting that police responded to in the 1100 block of North Jackson Street within Baytown in the early hours of May 11. Shortly after the shooting, 32-year-old Hamilton A. Nash, showed up at the nearby Bay County Law Enforcement Center, bleeding from at least one gunshot wound and carrying a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. Nash was taken by ambulance to Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw as police arrested Johnson Jr., whom they’d spotted walking on the sidewalk by Baytown.

Johnson told police he’d driven up from Canton to visit his girlfriend, who lived at Baytown. The couple, along with Nash and Nash’s girlfriend, went to a Saginaw bowling alley, then returned to the apartment complex for a few drinks, Johnson told police.

Nash grew upset over Johnson talking to Nash’s girlfriend, Johnson told police, according to reports in court records.

According to police reports, Johnson told investigators he is licensed to carry a concealed pistol and has a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber registered in his name. He said he retrieved the weapon from his vehicle’s glove box, put a magazine in it, and racked it, the police report states. He then scuffled with Nash.

“If anything happened, it went off by accident,” Johnson told investigators, according to the police report. “If I would have meant to shoot him, I would have shot him in the head. Anything I did was based on me feeling threatened.”

During his ambulance ride, Nash told police that after the couples returned to the apartment, he had “cussed out” Johnson for having put his arm around his girlfriend. He got in Johnson’s face and shoved his shoulder, only for Johnson to step outside, Nash told police.

Johnson returned shortly thereafter as Nash stood atop the stairs, he said. Johnson had a pistol in his right hand and began walking up the staircase, Nash told police.

Nash told police Johnson put the gun between Nash’s eyes, but Nash pushed it away as the gun fired. The two then grappled down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, Nash had the gun and ran outside, he told police.

"I fought for my life,” Nash told police. “I thought I was going to die.”

Doctors told police the bullet had fractured Nash’s right thumb and given a superficial wound to his left pectoral. He also had injuries to his shoulder and eyebrow, court records show.