Compton Man Held in Slaying of Truck Driver

A 35-year-old Compton man has been arrested in connection with the slaying of a truck driver who was shot Monday night as he was stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 5 near Gorman, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

Rudy Johns was taken into custody late Tuesday in an unincorporated area of San Gabriel. A car that had been found nearby matched witnesses’ description of the attacker’s vehicle. Sheriff’s deputies said Johns had once worked with the slain man.

Although homicide investigators have yet to locate the weapon used in the slaying, Sheriff’s Lt. Barrett Fitzgerald said, “We’ve got everything locked up tight.”

“They knew each other. They were employed one time by the same trucking company.”

Fitzgerald would not say what might have led to the roadside argument.

Hauling Mail

Watkins, 36, had been hauling mail from Los Angeles to Bakersfield when he was apparently stopped on the shoulder of the roadway, deputies said. Witnesses recounted seeing a man standing next to the truck, arguing with the trucker, just before shots were fired.

Deputies said Johns made an “admissions statement” as he was being booked on suspicion of murder at the Temple City sheriff’s station. They would not elaborate.

Watkins had been an employee of the Los Angeles-based Auston & Sons Trucking Co., which contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to haul mail. A regular driver on the Los Angeles-Bakersfield run, he had been making the trip at least three times a week.

Johns, who is expected to be arraigned early next week, is being held without bail.