Suspect in 4 Killings Sought

STOCKTON —  A statewide search was on for the suspect in the killing Tuesday night of a grandmother and three children in the woman’s rural home.

Police also have alerted authorities in all bordering western states that they believe the suspect is armed with a gun and a knife.

The man, Roger Leroy Johnson, is a former boyfriend of one of the slain children’s mothers, a sheriff’s deputy said. She had left her children with the grandmother to go to the courthouse for a temporary restraining order against Johnson.

He is described as 48, white, 5 feet 6, 180 pounds with short, slicked back brown hair and blue eyes. He is missing four fingers on his right hand.

Johnson is believed to be driving a 2000 maroon Chevrolet pickup with California license plate number 6H56849.

A 10-year-old boy, a sibling of one of the victims, escaped from the killer and called 911 at 4:15 p.m. from a neighbor’s phone.

Deputies found two dead in the house and two outside, all believed to have been shot. The children were a 4-year-old boy and 5- and 7-year-old girls.

Johnson was not believed to be the father of any of the children.