Baby Autumn “Minnie” Johnson had just turned one year old when a man stepped out of a blue Chevy Impala and began shooting at her East Compton, California home on Tuesday night, striking her in the head and killing her.
“If black lives matter, then let’s make it matter then,” said baby Autumn’s great-uncle Cornell Patton said in the wake of her death according to the Los Angeles Times. “She had a hole right up over her eye. It’s no regard for life, period.”
Authorities are looking for two black male suspects, welcoming even anonymous witnesses.
The baby’s 21-year-old mother, Blanche Wandick, recalled the baby just sitting in her crib when the shooting started. The Times described the scene: blood dotting the driveway, birthday balloons in the living room, blood soaked blankets and bullet holes.
Father Darrell Johnson, 24, has admitted to being a member of a local street gang, according to the Times report citing Lt. John Corina of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). Authorities believe that the attack may have targeted the baby’s father and are investigating whether a gang dispute was the motive. As of Wednesday they were still looking for two suspects.
Several members of baby Autumn’s family expressed their heavy mourning over the little girl who earned the name “Minnie” because she was only five pounds at birth according to the Times. Her 28-year-old uncle Marques Slaughter described her engaging smile and “the center of attention and joy.”
The Black Lives Matter movement was started in 2013 by “three self-described queer black women,” as documented by Breitbart News’ Lee Stranahan. This journalist was in Ferguson, Missouri when activists burned down considerable portions of the St. Louis suburb in response to the death of young black man Michael Brown.
Black Lives Matter group made up their version of Brown’s death, including the later-debunked phrase, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” which became a mantra to promote the idea that police violence against blacks was an epidemic.
The group has largely rejected questions about “black-on-black crime,” in favor of promoting the police violence meme.
But now, in the wake of the suspected gang-related murder of Baby Autumn, her great-uncle has called for attention to the the problems facing her neighborhood–“if black lives matter.”
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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