18-Year-Old Arrested in Teen’s Death in Van Nuys

VAN NUYS —  Los Angeles police have announced the arrest of a teenager suspected of the January slaying of 20-year-old Corey Johnson on a Van Nuys street corner.

Chris Repp, 17, of Panorama City was arrested Sunday night in San Bernardino when sheriff’s deputies responded to a disturbance about 8 p.m., Los Angeles Police Det. Stephen Fisk said Friday. Repp fled to San Bernardino after the slaying and was staying at a girlfriend’s house, Fisk said.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from a neighbor that there had been a dispute and Repp “said he was going to get his gun,” Fisk said. When officers arrested Repp, they identified him as the person named by witnesses to Johnson’s slaying.

Johnson was shot to death Jan. 26 as he tried to mediate an argument between three young women at Parthenia Street and Willis Avenue, Fisk said. Repp intervened and shot Johnson several times, he said. Johnson died later at a local hospital.

“One of the girls was the suspect’s girlfriend and the other girl was thought to be another girlfriend but she wasn’t. They were fighting over him [Repp],” Fisk said, adding that Johnson knew the women but apparently had never met Repp.

Repp is being held at Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and will face a preliminary hearing within the next week, Fisk said.