Man Held in Slaying at Restaurant : Crime: Suspect surrenders in shooting of a woman who was with her children in a car at a drive-through window.

Police have arrested a suspect in the murder of a woman who was shot to death in front of her children at a fast-food restaurant in Watts, authorities said Wednesday.

Shawn Paul Johnson, 24, of Los Angeles surrendered to police Tuesday night and was promptly arrested on charges of robbery and the murder on Friday of 30-year-old Anita Robertson, Lt. Bruce Hagerty said.

“We believe he knew he was wanted,” Hagerty said at a news conference, adding that the community had put pressure on Johnson to surrender. “He felt it was best for him to turn himself in.”

Robertson died within 30 minutes of the 11 p.m. shooting at the drive-through window of a Jack-in-the-Box on 103rd Street and Central Avenue.

She had driven up to the restaurant with her two children, a friend and her three children. A gunman leaned through the car window, demanded her purse and shot her in the chest when she refused to surrender it.

The gunman, wearing a blue bandanna over his face, fled with Robertson’s purse. No one else was injured.

A second suspect, Lloyd Martin, 21, of Los Angeles is still at large, authorities said. Police described Martin as between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10 and weighing about 150 pounds.

Hagerty said several people, including gang members, called police and provided information on the suspects.

“This was so heinous a crime that even (gang members) believed this crime needed to be solved,” he said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said after the news conference that the nature of this murder sparked people to come forward.

“When you kill a mother in front of her babies, you can expect to see an outpouring of support,” he said.

He praised the cooperation between residents and police, saying “if we want effective police work in Los Angeles, it means the community itself has to step forward.”

Ridley-Thomas’ motion to issue a $25,000 reward for information leading to the gunman’s arrest and conviction was approved Tuesday by the City Council. The reward money has not been distributed, Hagerty said, adding that the investigation remains open.

Both Johnson and Martin have prior arrest records, investigators said.

Capt. Willie Pannelli said Robertson’s murder is part of a pattern of crime at fast-food restaurants. This year alone, he said, at least two robberies have occurred at drive-through windows of area fast-food eateries.