Stabbing of former Oakland Raiders player in L.A. may be linked to 3 other homeless encampment slayings
The recent stabbing death of former NFL player Kevin Johnson could be linked to the deaths of three other homeless people in same Los Angeles area, police said.
Johnson, an L.A. native who played for both the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders in the 90s, was found dead on Jan. 21 near a homeless encampment in the 1300 block of E. 120th Street in the unincorporated community of Willowbrook, near Compton. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has since said that he died from “blunt head trauma and stab wounds.”
In a press release on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Johnson’s killing was one of four homicides that occurred near the same encampment between October 2025 and January 2026. It further noted that all four victims were believed to be “unhoused” and living in the area at the time of their deaths.
A week after Johnson was found, authorities responded to a spot by a nearby flood channel after a man was found dead there, CBS News reported. No other information has been provided about the other deaths.
“At this time, investigators are working to determine whether these cases are related,” the sheriff’s office said.
Johnson, a defensive lineman, may have been suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease caused by repeated head injuries, his loved ones told KABC-TV.
“He was my best friend. I was best man at his wedding… Great guy, fun-loving,” Bruce Todd said. “The community is going to miss him.”