1-Year-Old Shot To Death In Los Angeles, Possibly Gang Related

After gunfire was heard in the Compton neighborhood, a woman screamed once she realized her one-year-old daughter had been shot in her crib. The shots that are believed to be gang-related took the life of an innocent child, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Blanche Wandick, Autumn Johnson’s mother, tearfully recalls that horrible night.

“My innocent baby got shot for nothing. She was sitting — just standing in her crib — and out of nowhere, gunshots. That’s all. That’s all I can say. That’s it. I miss my baby, I love my baby, but she is gone,”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Autumn recently celebrated her birthday, with leftover cake and balloons still present from the celebration, making this time even more difficult.

When a man stepped out of his blue Impala, he fired shots at the garage before climbing back into the car and driving south.

Investigators are trying to determine who the two men that were involved were and whether or not it was gang-related, although the Los Angeles Times remarks that they believe Autumn’s father, Darrell Johnson, may have been a target.

There were about ten shots before a woman screamed, “They shot my baby. They shot my baby,” the Washington Post described. Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department made a Statement to KTLA on Wednesday.

“It looks like somebody drove up and were shooting into the house at somebody else and the baby caught a stray round,”

Lt. John Corina did say the shooting did appear gang-related.

“It looks like they targeted a person, and they didn’t shoot the house, they shot into the garage. So they were obviously targeting whoever’s living in the garage,”

Autumn’s uncle Cornell Patton told KTLA that she was shot above the eye.

“She was 1 years old. Innocent. An innocent little girl lost her life yesterday over some foolishness,” Patton said. “If black lives matter, man, let’s make it matter then. A little girl just got killed.”

Witnesses told NBC Los Angeles that after the shots were fired and the gunman was getting back into the blue Chevrolet Impala, Darrell Johnson ran out of the house carrying his limp, bleeding daughter in his arms sobbing and screaming for someone to take her to the hospital.

The little girl was rushed to St. Francis Medical Center; however, she died a short time later due to the extent of her injury, the Washington Post reports.

Compton is said to be one of the most violent parts of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times crime data. Just in the past six months, Compton has had eight homicides, with a total of 476 violent crimes. Nearly all the homes in Compton have bars on the windows in efforts to protect themselves.

The mayor of Compton, Aja Brown, asks the public for any help they can provide.

“I stand today with Compton residents in recommitting ourselves to the fight against gang violence,”

If anyone has any information at all about this shooting that led to this sweet baby girl’s death, please call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or make an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers by calling 800-222-8477 or texting letters TIPLA plus the tip to 274637.

(Photo By Mark Makela/Getty Images)