“We had thrown out a twin mattress in a dumpster in our alley a few days before the shooting,” Box said. “You have to have the mattress in the dumpster or they will not haul it away.” That morning, Box and Howard were in the back yard when they saw the mattress was on their property. Howard tossed it back in the dumpster. Box said that’s when Johnnie Miller came to the alley, pulled the mattress out of the dumpster and tossed it back on Howard’s property. Howard told Miller to put it back in the dumpster. Miller cursed at Howard and told him he wasn’t going to do that, Box said. “That’s when Johnnie (Miller) pulled a pistol out of his shorts,” she said. Box noted that Howard’s nieces and nephews had been with them in the back yard. “Aaron goes into pappa bear mode,” Box said. “A man has just pulled a gun on his wife, his brother, his nieces and nephews.”
