Johnson's friends spoke with KARE 11 on Monday, saying Johnson was an adventurous, fun-loving person. Jon May said he was shocked when he heard the news of Johnson's passing. May studied engineering alongside Johnson. "He was an incredible student," May said. "He had to help teach me how to do a lot of these physics problems we were working on throughout our four years at St. Thomas." Claire Sherman had known Johnson and his family for many years and had gone on a number of family vacations together. "There was a paddleboard randomly, I think they just had it on the side of the shore," Sherman said. "Charlie brought it out and we were like 'what are you doing with that,' and he was like I'm going to surf behind it.