Man Charged in Slaying at Tarzana Bank

A 19-year-old South-Central Los Angeles man was charged Thursday with murdering a Canoga Park man during an attempted robbery outside a Tarzana bank.

Quinal Johnson was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office with murder committed in the course of a robbery, a special circumstance that allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole. Johnson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment before Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Patricia Gorner Schwartz.

Johnson is accused of shooting Raul Figueroa, 28, June 30 outside the Wells Fargo Bank at 18705 Ventura Blvd. after Figueroa refused to surrender $400 he was about to deposit. Deputy Dist. Atty. Christine Thurman said Figueroa worked at two fast-food restaurants and needed the money to pay his rent.

Johnson shot Figueroa twice with a handgun, Thurman said. When Figueroa fell to the ground, still clutching the money, Johnson shot him twice in the head at close range, Thurman said.

Witnesses reported seeing the gunman fleeing in a car, which later was found to have been stolen June 28 in Van Nuys. The car was found abandoned a few blocks from the bank.

Johnson turned himself in to Los Angeles police at the West Valley station July 11 after he learned police wanted to question him about the killing, Thurman said.

Police had received evidence linking Johnson to Figueroa’s killing while investigating a series of robberies at bank automatic teller machines in the San Fernando Valley, Thurman said. But police and prosecutors declined to disclose what led them to suspect Johnson in Figueroa’s death.

Johnson is being held in the County Jail with no bail.