JEFFERSON COUNTY — An August jury trial date has been confirmed in the Jefferson County case charging a 19-year-old Mt. Vernon man with first degree murder.

Roderick S. Oats Jr., is accused of shooting Carlos Johnson to death in July 2017.

Mt. Vernon police responded in the early morning hours of July 9, 2017, to the 700 block of South 25th Street on a report of shots fired.

Officials were later contacted by an area hospital of a man brought into the emergency room with gunshot wounds. Jefferson County Coroner Roger Hayse declared 20-year-old Carlos Johnson, of Mt. Vernon, dead of a gunshot wound.

Oats was arrested later that same night in Benton, Ill. He was later charged with three counts first-degree murder for Johnson’s death and his bail was set at $3 million.

At the time of his arrest Oats was free on $2,500 cash bond after being arrested in Marion County for alleged possession of a stolen firearm and carrying or possessing a firearm without a FOID card.

He had been a passenger in a car stopped when leaving a party in Salem where two people had been shot.

While he wasn’t a suspect in that shooting incident, he was allegedly found in possession of a 38 caliber handgun that was reportedly loaded with four bullets and had the hammer cocked.

The gun was reported stolen in 1982 from Hanover, Massachusetts.