Family of Slain L.A. Policeman Awarded $50,000 U.S. Grant

The family of a Los Angeles police officer slain in last December’s Chinatown shoot-out with jewelry store bandits has been given $50,000 by the federal government, officials announced Thursday.

The money, authorized by a 1976 law granting $50,000 each to the families of policemen killed in the line of duty, will go to Kathleen Johnson, widow of Officer Duane C. Johnson, 27, who was shot to death when he and his partner interrupted a holdup at Jin Hing Co. on Bamboo Lane Dec. 19.

Kathleen Johnson of La Habra was pregnant with the couple’s only child at the time of the shooting. She gave birth in March to a daughter, Rachel Claire Johnson.

‘Enormously Appreciative’

Although Kathleen Johnson could not be reached for comment Thursday, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, Cmdr. William Booth, said she was “enormously appreciative” of the grant, which is in addition to the usual pension and insurance benefits of a deceased police officer.

Booth said the grant, given under the provisions of the 1976 Public Safety Officer’s Benefits Act and administered by the U.S. Justice Department’s Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, has been given to other local policemen who died in the line of duty in recent years.

Johnson, a Marine Corps veteran with three years’ experience on the department, was on routine foot patrol with Officer Archie Nagao, 29, when they encountered five members of a Chinatown gang.

Although hit by gunfire almost immediately, Johnson managed to fire at least four rounds from his service revolver before he died in the Chinatown alley.

In the exchange of gunfire, Nagao was wounded and two of the holdup men were killed. Three others were later captured and are awaiting trial.