Reward Tripled for Info on Compton Baby Killer

The Compton City Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday to authorize a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction on anyone responsible for the killing of 1-year-old Autumn Johnson.

Compton Mayor Aja Brown announced that Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and the FBI both plan to match the city’s reward, bringing the total reward to $75,000.

Autumn Johnson was asleep in her crib at home around 7 p.m. last Tuesday when a gunman got out of a car on the 300 block of North Holly Avenue in Compton and fired bullets into the building, hitting her Autumn in the face, authorities said.

Because fire department paramedics had not arrived, sheriff’s deputies rushed the infant to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where she was pronounced dead.

Witnesses told sheriff’s investigators that the attack was carried out by two males in a dark four-door sedan, with one of the suspects opening fire into a home’s garage, which had been converted into a living area, said Deputy Trina Schrader of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

The car was described as a newer model blue four-door Chevrolet Impala. Detectives believe the shooting was gang-related.

Anyone with information on the shooting was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

“There is no justification for this horrendous tragedy,” Brown said. “There is no excuse that anyone can give for taking the life of a precious baby girl who had not even begun to realize her full potential in life.”

--City News Service.