Tom Wondra says he is shocked by his son’s arrest on second-degree murder charges.

“I can’t believe it; I can’t believe that,” he says. “He was a really good kid.”

Wondra says he first learned about his son Nathan’s arrest after a call from police Thursday.

Court documents reveal how Father Lawrence Johnson lost his life, trying to help his accused killer.

It happened along a busy I-94, near Prior Avenue in St. Paul, early Thursday afternoon.

Prosecutors say Wondra, 32 — had called 911, self-reporting he had strangled Johnson, after telling him minutes before to pull over.

“On scene, a vehicle occupied by two males was located,” Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul Police spokesperson told reporters. “One of those males, an elderly male, who was driving the vehicle was unconscious and not breathing.”

Wondra told police Johnson was driving him to Regions Hospital to get a mental health evaluation.

According to the court documents, Wondra ‘heard voices in his head, telling him to kill Johnson to save humanity.’  

“Yes, he stayed on scene,” Ernster says. “He was in the passenger seat of the vehicle when officers arrived. St. Paul fire paramedics were providing aid to this male and transported him to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”

But Tom Wondra — who says he’s lived with his son for the past twenty years, says he’s never seen any previous signs of mental illness, and that he was never violent with any family members.

The younger Wondra told police that the 76-year-old retired priest was a father figure and that their relationship was entirely platonic.

Nathan Wondra also told investigators that he stayed in Johnson’s retirement home Wednesday night, then went to mass with him the next morning.

Tom Wondra says he was unaware of his son’s relationship with Johnson.

He says his son had been working at a Walgreens Pharmacy for several years and was attending classes at St. Paul College to get a nursing degree.

Court records do not show any civil commitment of the 32-year-old with regard to mental health.

Wondra is now in custody at the Ramsey County Jail and faces a court hearing on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says funeral plans for Johnson are now under discussion.