3 Arrested in Man’s Slaying in Drug Deal

A man planning to make a drug buy on a secluded Granada Hills road was killed in a barrage of submachine-gun fire from three men, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

One of the three suspected killers mistakenly wounded a companion during the attack, police said, which led to the capture of the men Tuesday night, when officers checked area hospitals for a gunshot victim.

John Gerald Johnston, 20, was found dead at the side of a fire road near Sesnon Boulevard and Louise Avenue about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said. He had been shot repeatedly in the upper body.

A witness saw Johnston and three other men get out of two cars at the secluded spot, police said. The witness said one man opened fire on Johnston, who was unarmed. The witness also saw that one of the three other men had been hit in the leg during the gunfire.

Police found a car fitting the witness’s description at Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills. The three suspects were arrested at the hospital, where one was being treated for a gunshot wound. Police said an Uzi semiautomatic rifle and other evidence of the shooting were found in the car.

Police said Ron Noah Morton, 20, of Granada Hills, Scott William Johnson, 18, of Sylmar and Devin Taylor Otte, 18, of Granada Hills, were arrested on suspicion of murder. Morton and Johnson were being held without bail at Devonshire Division jail, and Otte was being held at the jail ward of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

The suspects took several thousand dollars from the victim, police said. Police found no drugs and said they believe the suspects planned from the start to cheat Johnston out of the money.