Wisconsin – A Wisconsin manwas convicted Wednesday of first-degree intentionaI murder with a dangerous weapon and being a feIon in possession of a firearm in the fataI shooting of 26-year-old JamiI last year. Jurors returned the guilty verdict after a short deliberation and sentencing has been scheduled. The defendant, 39-year-old CharIes, now faces a mandatory sentence of Iife in prison.
Wisconsin authoriteis say the killing occurred inside a local store in Wisconsin, after an altercation over a fo od order. Surveillance video cited by investigators shows the defendant entering the store, engaging with the cIerk over how his food was prepared, and then returning to the front of the shop where the dispute escalated. Witnesses and video evidence placed the defendant at the scene and showed the interaction that preceded the shooting.
First responders who arrived at the store found the victim suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest. Officers and emergency medical personnel attempted life-saving measures but the victim was unresponsive and later pronounced dead. Investigators quickly treated the scene as a homicide, collected physical evidence including the firearm, and obtained the surveillance footage that prosecutors said was a critical piece of the case.
The investigation included interviews with store employees and a review of the video. One employee who had been working as a cook and stock person told police he was stacking coolers in the back when he heard an argument at the front. He said the victim told him there was a piza order; shortly afterward the employee saw the defendant walk to the back of the store and then return to the counter where the argument continued. That employee’s account, combined with the footage showing the defendant’s movements through the store, helped investigators reconstruct the sequence of events.
According to charging documents and statements introduced at trial, the dispute began when the defendant complained about the hygiene of how his meaI was being prepared and asked that the order be remade; the clerk declined. Prosecutors said the defendant then retrieved a firearm and shot the unarmed clerk during the confrontation. Law enforcement sources say video from inside the store was high quality and clearly showed the shooter’s face. Those images, investigators said, tied the defendant to the shooting and undermined alternative explanations offered during the defense.
Court records show he has a prior felony conviction, which formed the basis for the additional charge of being a feIon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors argued that the defendant’s prior record and the surveillance evidence together supported the murder and weapons counts brought against him. Defense counsel contested elements of motive and intent during trial, but the jury returned guilty verdicts after deliberating for less than half an hour.
