A 19-year-old Rhode Island man whose survival at birth was formally recognized as the first miracle of Pope Leo XIV's papacy has been arrested on felony firearms charges in connection with a double shooting in Newport, Rhode Island.

U.S. Marshals took Tyquan Johnson into custody in Newport News, Virginia, on Wednesday after Newport police identified him as one of two suspects in a July 19 shooting that left two people with non-life-threatening injuries. Johnson faces charges of felony assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a compact area, the Daily Caller reported.

The arrest connects one of the Catholic Church's most celebrated recent stories, a newborn who survived 65 minutes without breathing and recovered without apparent brain damage, to a violent crime that sent two victims to the hospital. A second suspect remains at large.

From miraculous birth to a papal declaration

Johnson was born as Tyquan Hall in 2007 at a Rhode Island hospital. He barely had a pulse and did not breathe for 65 minutes despite life-saving measures. Doctors expected severe developmental delays or permanent disability from the prolonged oxygen deprivation.

A physician present at the birth prayed for the intercession of Salvador Valera Parra, a 19th-century Catholic figure now titled "Venerable Servant of God." The Diocese of Providence said Johnson "suddenly recovered, suffering no apparent damage from the lengthy period of oxygen deprivation."

Pope Leo XIV, who has made a series of consequential institutional decisions since assuming the papacy, formally declared Johnson's survival a miracle on July 18, 2025. The Diocese of Providence announced it on social media, calling it the first recognized miracle in Rhode Island.

The Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the office that investigates potential miracles, attributed the recovery to the intercession of Father Valera, with the Pope's approval. The declaration also advanced the cause for Valera Parra's beatification and eventual canonization.

Father Timothy Reilly, chancellor of the Diocese of Providence, called the declaration "a reminder of the power of prayer and the intercession of holy men and women."

Reilly also told the New York Post that what made the miracle striking was the distance between the saint's life and the event itself:

"The cool thing is, the more you think about the miracle itself, Father Valera lives in the 19th century. He never came to the US... And yet, because the doctor called out and called upon his name for help in the situation back in '07 on behalf of that little baby, he decided to intervene and ask God for a miracle."

Johnson once said God gave him "a second chance"

Before his arrest, Johnson sat for an interview with WAVY, a Virginia-based news station, where he described his life in terms that now carry a bitter irony. He said he felt physically normal and expressed a deep sense of purpose rooted in his survival.

"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 said he wanted to join the military and work in the computer field. Those aspirations now sit alongside a felony arrest warrant and a fugitive apprehension by federal marshals.

Pope Leo XIV has been an active and often bold figure since his election, drawing both praise and friction from political leaders. His decision to recognize Johnson's birth as a miracle was one of the signature early acts of his papacy, a move meant to affirm divine intervention and advance the canonization process for a 19th-century priest.

Newport police tracked Johnson across state lines

Newport police officers responded to the shooting scene at approximately 9:55 p.m. on July 19 and found two victims with non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators identified Johnson and a second, still-unidentified suspect as those responsible.

Johnson was not in Rhode Island when authorities moved to arrest him. The U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, a federal unit that tracks suspects who cross jurisdictions, located and arrested him in Newport News, Virginia, roughly 500 miles south of where the shooting occurred.

The Newport Police Department confirmed the charges and the arrest in an official Instagram post. As of early Thursday, the second suspect's whereabouts remained unknown, and the investigation was described as ongoing. No motive for the shooting has been publicly disclosed.

The case has drawn national attention in part because of the jarring collision between the sacred and the criminal. Pope Leo XIV's papacy has already produced its share of dramatic moments, from accepting a Peruvian bishop's resignation over abuse allegations to navigating tensions with traditionalist Catholic factions in Europe. But few stories have tested the narrative of divine grace quite like this one.

A miracle declaration now shadowed by a felony charge

The Vatican's miracle process is rigorous. It requires documented evidence of an event that defies medical explanation, review by theological and scientific panels, and final approval by the Pope. Johnson's case cleared every step. The Diocese of Providence celebrated it as a sign that "God is indeed close to us," in Father Reilly's words.

None of that changes the fact that a 19-year-old man who survived what doctors considered medically impossible now sits in custody, charged with shooting two people. The Church declared what happened at his birth a miracle. What happened 18 years later is a matter for the courts.

A second chance is a gift. What a man does with it is his own responsibility.