Jurors Deliberate in Slaying of Shopper : Courts: A 29-year-old Canoga Park man is accused of shooting a woman in a Topanga Plaza parking lot.

A Canoga Park man should be convicted of first-degree murder for shooting a woman to death as she loaded shopping bags into her sports car in a Topanga Plaza parking lot, a prosecutor said Monday.

Recounting the testimony of witnesses during a two-week trial in Van Nuys Superior Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Phillip H. Rabichow said Emelito Halili Exmundo, 29, showed no expression as he shot the victim in the face while jumping into her Corvette.

Camille Gibbs, 45, a Canoga Park insurance claims adjuster who was buying a wedding gift, died at the scene of the March 29 shooting as Exmundo raced away in her car, Rabichow said.

“Just before she was killed, what was her response?” Rabichow said to the jury. “ ‘Oh, my God, someone help me, please.’ There is no doubt that this was a first-degree murder.”

A defense attorney, however, said witnesses’ accounts of the slaying raised doubts as to the killer’s identity.

The jury began to deliberate late Monday.

Exmundo is charged with murder and robbery in Gibbs’ shooting, and with a second count of robbery stemming from a liquor store holdup less than three hours later. He is also charged in another car theft.

Exmundo will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted. Prosecutors decided last year not to seek the death penalty.

In his closing argument before the jury, Rabichow recounted much of the case against Exmundo. He said Gibbs was knocked to the ground during a struggle at her car, which was parked near a May Co. entrance. After she was shot, her attacker took her purse and car.

Three women who were in the parking lot saw different parts of the attack and slaying, and two later identified Exmundo as the killer, Rabichow said.

Exmundo was captured about three hours later after he walked into a Chatsworth liquor store with a mask on, brandished a gun and demanded the money from the cash register, Rabichow said. A struggle with the husband and wife who own the store followed, and Exmundo was shot in the leg, beaten on the head with liquor bottles and held for police. The owners were unhurt.

Gibbs’ car was found in front of the liquor store with the engine still running, Rabichow said. The gun recovered in the store was linked to the bullet that killed Gibbs, he said.

Prosecution evidence also included testimony from Exmundo’s landlord, who said the defendant’s sister had said she heard her brother confess to the slaying. However, the sister testified that there was no confession.

Rabichow said the exact motive for the slaying is unknown, but investigators determined that Exmundo faced financial difficulties, including facing eviction for not paying rent. Also, three days before the shooting, a stolen car Exmundo had allegedly been using was impounded by police, the prosecutor said.

“As soon as that car was taken by police, he went out to get another,” Rabichow said.

Exmundo’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Michael A. Gottlieb, attacked the three witnesses’ initial statements to police, telling jurors that “major variances” in their stories could be the basis of a reasonable doubt about Exmundo’s guilt.

“Everybody can’t be right because we aren’t getting three identical stories,” Gottlieb said. “We really don’t know what happened at the May Co. in March.”

Jurors are expected to continue deliberations today.

Members of Gibbs’ family have attended court throughout the trial. On Monday, her father sat in court with a drawing pad, sketching a picture of Exmundo with a pencil.