Man found guilty of robbing, killing Lancaster computer store owner

A Lancaster man faces life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was found guilty of shooting the owner of a Lancaster computer store during a robbery, authorities said.

A jury Friday found 25-year-old Timothy Jerode Johnson guilty of first-degree murder, including a special-circumstance allegation of killing during a robbery, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Johnson, who was also found guilty of two counts of robbery, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 19.

The deadly robbery unfolded in March 2012 at the e-Chaps Computer store, where Johnson pointed a gun at owner Reed Keith, 59, and a customer. The customer testified in court that after he was forced to put his face to the ground, he heard Johnson shoot Keith, according to the district attorney’s office.

“You didn’t think I’d shoot you, did you?” he recalled Johnson telling him.

The customer managed to escape. Johnson took money and computers and then ran to a getaway vehicle driven by his then-girlfriend, 26-year-old Jinea Aarona Ingram.

About four hours after the shooting, Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies tracked Johnson to a separate location in Lancaster, where members of the Special Enforcement Bureau engaged in an armed standoff with the defendant. The Times reported that he was a gang member on parole.

Ingram has a sentencing hearing Aug. 14. She pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in May and is expected to be sentenced to 21 years in state prison, according to the district attorney’s office.

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