Duane Curtis Johnson was a 27-year-old Los Angeles Police Department officer killed on December 19, 1984, while responding to a silent holdup alarm at a Chinatown jewelry store. He had served three years with the LAPD and was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. Johnson and his partner were admitted into the store by a robber posing as an employee; as they entered the suspects opened fire. Officer Johnson was fatally shot and his partner was wounded but managed to return fire. With help from the store owner’s son, two of the suspects were killed at the scene and another was wounded.

The wounded suspect was later sentenced to life in prison, and two other suspects involved in the robbery were subsequently apprehended. Johnson left behind a wife and daughter; he was the first LAPD officer to die in the line of duty in 1984 and the third officer to die in Chinatown within 14 months. Does anyone have memories of Officer Johnson or information about the incident that might add context to what happened that day?