Almost one year ago to the day, 38-year-old Eric Johnson of Contra Costa County was shot and killed while backstage at a Shoreline Amphitheatre concert. His Aug. 22, 2014 slaying remains the subject of an ongoing Mountain View police investigation, but even though his death is unsolved it could soon be a matter for the courts. A civil lawsuit recently filed by his mother is pinning responsibility for Johnson's shooting on the city of Mountain View as well as rapper "Young Jeezy" and the organizers behind hip-hop artist Wiz Khalifa's "Under the Influence of Music" tour.

Exactly what precipitated Johnson's shooting last year still remains a mystery. Johnson, the owner of the music company "Full Pull Entertainment," was arranging an after-party to follow the concert. His lawyers say he brokered a deal earlier to have Young Jeezy appear at the party in exchange for $20,000. But when he approached the performer and his entourage backstage around 11 p.m., they demanded an extra $10,000. Attorneys for Johnson's family allege Young Jeezy had a reputation for bilking music promoters with this trick in the past.

The quarrel over payment soon escalated into a heated argument. It's not clear how the situation turned violent, but Johnson was shot multiple times by someone with a pistol. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Young Jeezy and his cadre were the police officials' prime suspects in the case. Three days after the concert, the rapper and five others were arrested on weapons charges in Irvine after a search warrant turned up an AK-47 rifle in their tour bus. But the firearm couldn't be linked to the Johnson's murder, and it wasn't clear who owned it. Police were later forced to drop the charges after DNA evidence failed to link them to the gun.

Since then, there has been little information disclosed about the investigation. The last update from police came in February when they released a sketch drawing of the suspected gunman. The case remains a high priority for the department, said police spokeswoman Shino Tanaka.

"We're still looking into a variety of leads, and we're still in communication with the victim's family," she said. "We want to bring closure to the victim and his family."

A music-lover's dream

Johnson's sister, Zsanna Secrease, describes her brother as a kind-hearted man who was striving to establish himself as a promoter in the East Bay music scene. His dream was coming to fruition. Days before his death, Johnson had organized his biggest concert to date at the Stockton Arena with artists including Lil Boosie, Juvenile and Aka Frank. Ultimately, his goal was to showcase local musicians, his sister said.

"He loved music ever since he was young," Secrease said. "He wanted to do something for all the talent he saw in the Bay Area."

Johnson was also an avid jogger, known for heading out at the crack of dawn for a run around Lake Merritt in Oakland. His post-run routine was to relax at the nearby Peet's Coffee, where he was a popular figure. Following news of his death, the local Peet's branch even named his favorite coffee blend after him — the "E. Special," his sister said.

He was also a loving father, although Secrease declined to talk about his children out of fear of their safety.

Since his death, Johnson's family has had a complicated relationship with the Mountain View police department. Secrease believes that the city's detectives are making a diligent effort to find her brother's killer, but she also hinted that her family's patience is nearing its limit. Police officials have treated her family "not kind" in their interactions, she said, declining to elaborate.

Johnson's family had little insight into how the investigation is going, and nearly all their information has come from media reports, she said. Like everyone else, they have many questions — What transpired before the shooting? How did the gunman escape? Why weren't Young Jeezy and his entourage detained on the night of the crime?

"There's a lot of open questions that we'd really like answered," she said. "I don't want to get into playing the blame game. We just want it solved."

Wrongful death claim

Johnson's mother Roseanna Robinson last month filed a sweeping wrongful-death lawsuit against nearly a dozen parties connected to the 2014 concert. Defendants in the case include the city of Mountain View, Def Jam Records —Young Jeezy's label — and Live Nation Entertainment, the company that owns and manages Shoreline Amphitheatre. The suit alleges the city police and concert organizers were essentially negligent in not planning adequate security for a event that reasonably could erupt in violence. Representing the family, attorney Christopher Aumais of the Los Angeles firm Girardi & Keese pointed out that the concert's headline performer, Wiz Khalifa, had fights and other violent incidents at past performances. Shoreline organizers should have planned extra security measures in advance, he said.

"(At the concert) it didn't seem like there were many security guards or police, or that it was very organized," Aumais said. "This venue should have known there was a potential for violence."

Aumais' law firm has a history with successfully litigating similar cases, most notably a 2011 lawsuit on behalf of Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who was brutally beaten at the Los Angeles Dodgers' stadium. In that case, Stow's attorneys successfully argued that stadium officials bore partial responsibility for not providing enough security to prevent the attack. Last year, a jury awarded Stow $18 million in damages.

It remains unclear whether a similar argument of inadequate security can be made against Mountain View and Shoreline Amphitheatre. City officials could not immediately say how many police officers were at Shoreline providing security on the night of the shooting. City Attorney Jannie Quinn was unavailable for comment on Wedneday prior to the Voice's press deadline.

Plaintiff attorneys say Shoreline Amphetheatre would employ 150 to 250 in-house security guards, depending on a concert's size. But the venue's security detail had poor policies and equipment, they allege. Guards were provided little more than a T-shirt, and they weren't issued walkie-talkies, batons or other equipment, the attorneys say. While regular concert-goers are each given a pat-down for weapons at the gate, security was "lax" for backstage guests, said attorney Ashkahn Mohamadi. Performers and their entourages were never searched, he said.

The wrongful-death lawsuit also names as defendants Young Jeezy and the five members of his entourage arrested by police last year in Irvine. The suit alleges that one of those individuals is to blame for shooting Johnson.

The suit doesn't mention how much it is seeking in damages. Johnson's family and their attorneys said the lawsuit shouldn't impact the ongoing murder investigation. The two cases were unrelated, Secrease said.

"We have all the confidence in the Mountain View police that they'll put their nose to the grindstone to investigate this," she said.

Family members say they hope the Johnson's death can elicit some positive change. In the months following his death, his mother has been trying to rally support for an online petition for "Eric's Law" — a proposal to tighten backstage security at large events. Their petition calls for security checks for everyone, including performers and their bodyguards. "My Eric would still be alive today," if such a measures had been enacted, his mother wrote.

The family is marking the anniversary of Johnson's death with a "Walk for Life" at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Lake Merritt in Oakland. They hope to use the event to share Johnson's memory and collect more signatures for the petition.