16-Year-Old Guilty of Killing Store Clerk

A jury deliberated about two hours Wednesday before finding a Whittier youth guilty of first-degree murder and robbery in the shooting of a La Habra 7-Eleven clerk.

The shooting was captured on the store’s video camera and publicized throughout Southern California.

Benjamin Perez, 16, faces up to 26 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 1 for the Aug. 21, 1995, slaying of Nirmal Singh of Fullerton. Singh was working his first night shift at the store when he was killed.

Perez, who was tried as an adult, did not face special-circumstance charges that could have led to the death penalty or life in prison without parole because he was younger than 16 at the time of the slaying, Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Henderson said.

Noel Uriel Vargas Jr., an 18-year-old who is accused of pulling the trigger in the robbery, is awaiting trial and could receive a death sentence.

The prosecutor said the videotape captured Perez telling his companion to “Pop him” and “Shoot him again” after the clerk asked them for proof of their age to buy a pack of cigarettes. The defendant’s fingerprints were found on the store’s counter and inside the cash register, which the defendant threw at the dying man after grabbing a small amount of money, Henderson said.

Police had said the robbers got away with $40.

Perez contended the videotape did not clearly capture his words, and that he was surprised by the gunfire. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

The 3 a.m. killing occurred less than 15 seconds after the two approached the counter of the store on Imperial Highway in La Habra, authorities said.

Singh, a 44-year-old father of three who had emigrated with his family from India about 2 1/2 years earlier, had been working at the store for about two weeks. He volunteered to work for someone else that night to impress his boss, his relatives said.

The publicity surrounding the killing brought hundreds of tips, including one that resulted in the arrest of the two teenagers.