Task Force Arrests Suspect In Gas Attendant's Murder, Robberies

The 12-day manhunt for a fugitive suspected of murder and armed robbery ended Friday morning, authorities said.

Zedrick Johnson, 34, whose last known address was on Bentley Lane in Willingboro, was captured at 7:45 a.m. in Camden by a U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Prosecutors said in a news release that Johnson had been on the lam since killing attendant Bal Krishna Karki during a Feb. 11 robbery at the Lukoil gas station at Route 130 North and Charleston Road in Willingboro. Johnson allegedly went inside the store at the station and beat Karki to death before leaving with money from the cash register.

Police were contacted at 2:30 a.m. by a customer who found Karki.

One day later, Johnson allegedly robbed a Willingboro convenience store on Vansciver Parkway. Prosecutors said he entered the Sunny Food Mart at approximately 9:15 a.m., put his hand in his pocket as if he had a firearm, pointed it at the cashier and demanded money. He then fled in the victim's car.

And he's charged with a second armed robbery for holding up a Delran gas station at knifepoint around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, when he allegedly entered the National Fuel on Route 130 North and Tenby Chase Drive. There, he's accused of threatening the attendant with a knife while demanding money, then punching the attendant in the face before taking the money and leaving.

Johnson will have a first court appearance Monday, prosecutors said.