Damnit! too bad they didn't resist and get mowed down
Typical cowardly scum...
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Murder suspects captured
Two men accused of killing 7-Eleven clerk
By KATHERINE ROSENBERG Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY — Two men accused of killing a 7-Eleven clerk this week were apprehended Saturday, ending an exhaustive search.
William Gould, 31, was shot over a dozen times by two suspected gang members who stole $62 from the cash registers, then killed Gould when he could not open the store’s safe, said Sgt. T.A. Peters, lead investigator from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Homicide Division.
“We feel very elated in catching them, it’s been a long week. We just haven’t stopped, we’ve had very little sleep but we had a small army going after these guys looking for them,” Peters said. “WeTip callers were also instrumental in this.”
Jerome Cornell Sessions, 24, of Victorville was identified early in the investigation as one of the two armed robbers, but it wasn’t until a WeTip caller provided information that authorities were able to identify the gunman in the shooting as Shamar Lavette Thornton, 20, of Apple Valley, Peters said.
He explained that although Sessions is a Crip gang member from Pomona and Thornton is a Delman Heights Blood gang member, the two were friends and worked together to plan the robbery, but not the murder.
“In the High Desert, there’s no barriers up there. We have found it is common in other murder investigations that we’ll have people from opposing gangs together. It’s like mutual territory,” Peters said.
Authorities found that the men had purchased gloves from another gas station earlier on Monday, hours before the mur- der, showing that it was a premeditated event, Peters said. But, Sessions never believed they would kill the clerk, Peters said.
“Sessions thought they were just going to beat him up, he actually took a swing at him. In the back room Gould is pleading for his life. Then they shoot, and when they do he was screaming for them to stop and they didn’t, or, I should say, Thornton didn’t,” Peters said. “Sessions was actually shot as well, he was grazed with a bullet on his arm. Thornton said he was scared that this guy was going to identify them or be able to testify against him so he kept shooting,” Peters said.
Additional details about the homicide were also made available, as Peters explained exactly what happened in the store from when the men first approached until they fled.
Gould was sweeping outside the store when the men arrived and Thornton produced a semi-automatic weapon and showed it to Gould as he was shoved inside the store. Once inside Gould was made to open the cash registers which yielded only $62, Peters said. The men then tried to get Gould to open the safe under the counter but he didn’t have access.
“The two suspects appeared to be angry with Gould and roughly force him down the hallway towards the back office,” Peters said.
In the back room Thornton first shot out the monitor of a computer screen before shooting Gould numerous times. Although the lights were out in the office, the surveillance cameras picked up the activity, including a muzzle flash each time Thornton fired a round, Peters said.
The men then fled and visited at least two other convenience stores afterwards. They returned to the AM/PM where they had purchased the gloves, and then Peters believes Sessions drove Thornton to his apartment before he visited the second 7-Eleven on his own.
Although Sessions was seen on tape at that location laughing and flirting with the clerk as he purchased beer and a blunt, used for smoking marijuana, Peters suggests Sessions is actually repentant for the murder.
“Sessions is very remorseful. When he came here he broke down crying. He’s very upset, this whole thing really tortured him,” Peters said.
Thornton, on the other hand, “was just concerned that I mention he is a rapper going to jail for murder,” Peters said. “This is a man you killed for no reason, his kids won’t have a father because of you and all you care about is that you’re a rapper?” Peters said.
Sessions also turned himself in to authorities after they had done extensive searches for him throughout the area. Peters attributed that to pressure put on him by friends who were in danger of being arrested. Each home the three-man homicide team visited resulted in arrests, called collateral damage. Peters felt those people were trying to convince Sessions, who was hiding out at a home in Compton, to turn himself in.
“We were right behind Sessions all week long, he was always just a step ahead of us, but knowing what he was doing to his friends caused him to turn himself in,” Peters said.
Court records show that T hor nton was previously charged with assault with a firearm on a person, threatening a crime and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant on January 3, 2004. He later pleaded guilty to the last charge, according to court documents, and he was on probation for the crimes.
Peters said that Sessions was on supervised parole for shooting at a dwelling or an inhabited vehicle.
Clerks at the 7-Eleven location on Apple Valley Road and Highway 18 would not comment on the arrest of their co-workers killers, referring inquiries to a corporate office. Calls to that office were not returned Saturday night.
A member of the Gould family also politely declined comment at this difficult time.