Baby girl shot dead in crib, bullet meant for ‘gang-member father’

A baby girl shot dead in her crib just a week after her first birthday was killed by a bullet likely meant for her gang-member father, police have revealed.

Autumn Johnson was asleep in her family’s converted garage in Compton when a gunman fired bullets into the building at 7pm on Tuesday.

The gunman fired at least five rounds and one bullet hit Autumn in the face.

Neighbors saw the girl’s 24-year-old father running out of the home screaming, clutching his lifeless daughter in his arms.

Once police arrived minutes later they drove her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Investigators believe the shooter wanted to hit the child’s 24-year-old father, who has acknowledged being a member of a street gang, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Corina said.

‘He was probably the intended target, and a stray bullet caught his daughter,’ Corina said, adding that the father was ‘somewhat cooperative’ with detectives.

Authorities were searching for the gunman and the driver of the getaway car. They were seen speeding away from the neighborhood in a dark sedan.

According to witnesses, two black men in a four-door sedan drove up to the home shortly before 7pm before one got out the car and fired shots.

The attack has left the community reeling, with neighbors saying they are rallying around the grieving family as they fear for their own children.

Anti-gun crime activists told NBC Los Angeles they are being hyper-vigilant in the area this week to prevent further attacks to the family.

‘We’re just going to make sure there’s no retaliation, and more innocent people getting harmed as a result,’ Ben Owens of Southern California CeaseFire told the network.

Meanwhile, Blanche Wandick, 21, is left mourning the death of her baby girl.

‘My innocent baby got shot for nothing,’ the tearful Wandick, who is pregnant, told TV reporters.

‘I appreciate anybody and everybody who’s helping try to find who did it.’

Sheriff’s officials have since pleaded for public help in finding the killer. Tipsters can remain anonymous, they said.

‘We’re following every lead as it comes in, real time,’ sheriff’s homicide Capt. Steven Katz. ‘We believe that there are people out there in the community who may have information to offer.’

Compton Mayor Aja Brown also asked for help from the public.

‘I stand today with Compton residents in recommitting ourselves to the fight against gang violence,’ the mayor said.

During the past six months Compton, one of the most violent areas in Los Angeles County, has had 475 violent crimes, including eight homicides, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Nearly all the homes in the neighborhood have bars on the windows.

Source: The DailyMail