Tyquan Johnson, a Rhode Island man whose birth in 2007 was recognized as a “miracle” by Pope Leo last year, is now wanted in connection with a double shooting, according to the Newport Police Department.
“After investigation into the double shooting that occurred on July 19, 2026, in the City of Newport, Newport Police Detectives have obtained an arrest warrant for Tyquan Johnson for felony assault with a firearm and firing in a compact area,” the Newport Police Department announced in a statement Friday.
Police reported that they received a call about the shooting at about 9:55 p.m. on July 19, near Truman Street and Rosedale Avenue. On investigation, they found two Newport residents aged 25 and 22 suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Investigators are now asking anyone with information on Johnson’s whereabouts or information about the shooting to contact Detective Sergeant Josephe Lavallee at [email protected] or 401-845-5763. It was also noted that anonymous tips can be shared at 401-846-2606.
Johnson, who was born on Jan. 14, 2007, at the former Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in Pawtucket, was clinically dead for more than one hour after his birth, according to The Boston Globe. Juan Sanchez-Esteban, the attending physician who is from Almería, prayed to the 18th-century priest Salvador Valera Parra for help, and Johnson started breathing again.
“The attending doctor that night called out for Father Valera’s help, who said, ‘It’s all up to you now. We’re done, we’ve done everything we can,’” Father Timothy Reilly, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Providence, recalled. “He went out to tell the parents that the baby was dead clinically. He came back and the gynecologist said, ‘Not so fast,’ and pulled him into the side room to tell him that the baby now had a heartbeat.”
Parra, who was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in March 2021 for living a life of heroic virtue, was beatified by Pope Leo in February following the recognition of Johnson’s birth as a medical miracle.
Johnson was expected to suffer developmental damage such as cerebral palsy or mental or physical disabilities due to the lack of oxygen from his clinical death, but he went on to have an active childhood.
He told WAVY in an interview last summer that he played baseball, football and basketball as a child and felt normal despite the medical miracle that gave him life.
“I don’t feel like nothing is really wrong,” he said. “I feel normal. I can do everything. I can jump, run, eat, sleep. … I can do everything a normal person would do. It definitely has changed my faith a lot because I’m destined to be in this world. If God didn’t want me in this world, He would just let me die on that table. But He wanted to give me a second chance.”
At the time of that interview, Johnson expressed plans to join the military and pursue work in computer science. He also urged people to use his story to strive for greatness.
“Give it patience,” he said. “Work hard. Strive for greatness and everything’s going to happen.”
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