Pasadena Man Is Charged in Slaying Outside Northridge Deli

A Pasadena computer technician was arrested Thursday in the Oct. 28 fatal shooting of a securities broker outside a Northridge delicatessen, Los Angeles police said.

Marva DeCarlo Johnson, 29, was charged with one count of murder in the death of John Collett, also 29, of Agoura Hills. He is scheduled to be arraigned today in San Fernando Municipal Court and was being held in Los Angeles County Jail, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Police Detective Tom Broad said Thursday that the shooting apparently stemmed from a business deal gone awry.

Johnson allegedly approached Collett outside Brent’s Deli at 19565 Parthenia Ave. and shot him in the head at point-blank range after a short conversation, Broad said. The gunman was driven away in a Honda Accord by a man who remains at large, he said.

The 1:30 p.m. shooting was witnessed by many patrons in Brent’s lunch crowd, but none were able to tell police what the men had said to each other before the shooting, police said. One witness wrote down the car’s license plate number, which enabled investigators to trace its owner, who led them to Johnson. Collett was pronounced dead at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.