Suspect in Officer’s Slaying Tries Suicide

The man accused of killing Los Angeles Police Department Officer Ricardo Lizarraga tried to commit suicide Tuesday night in his jail cell, authorities said.

Kenrick Johnson, a gang member and convicted felon, had made his first court appearance earlier in the day and charged with murder and special allegations that made him eligible for the death penalty. He is also charged with attempting to murder the officer’s partner, Joel Ruiz, who was not hurt.

Johnson, 32, who was being held without bail in a single cell by himself, was found hanging from the bars in his cell about 8:55 p.m. in the first-floor, high-security area at Men’s Central Jail, said Deputy Harry Drucker of the County Sheriff’s Department.

Just 10 minutes before he was discovered, deputies had gone around to the cells on that floor to deliver toilet paper, Drucker said. “There was no indication prior to this that he was suicidal, so he wasn’t on suicide watch,” he said.

Johnson’s condition was not available. After paramedics treated him at the scene, he was taken to the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center.

Tuesday morning, Johnson appeared in court with a deputy public defender but didn’t enter a plea. The arraignment was postponed so an attorney could be assigned to the case.

Lizarraga was killed on Friday after responding to a domestic disturbance call at an apartment on West 48th Street in South L.A. Johnson has a criminal history dating to 1990.