The death of former NFL defensive tackle Kevin Johnson could be connected to three other murder cases of homeless people in the same area of Los Angeles, authorities said on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Johnson, 55, was found dead shortly before 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at a homeless encampment about 10 miles east of Los Angeles International Airport, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. At the time, the sheriff's department said deputies located an unconscious man, later identified as Johnson, suffering from blunt force trauma.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his death was ruled a homicide, the sheriff's department said. On Thursday, Jan. 22, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said Johnson's cause of death was "blunt head trauma and stab wounds."
In an update on Feb. 3, the sheriff's department said its Homicide Bureau was investigating a "series of homicide cases" that occurred in the same general location, specifically the "1300 block of East 120th Street in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles."
Four people were killed in the area from October 2025 to January 2026, according to the sheriff's department. All four victims were unhoused and living in homeless encampments in the area.
