Contributing Writer
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| Photo by Robert Villapudua |
According to a press release from the City of Lancaster, at approximately 4 p.m. Friday, Lancaster deputies had responded to the location. After receiving a call regarding a gunshot victim. Upon arriving, deputies found store owner Reed Keith inside the business suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Keith was later pronounced deceased at the scene by the L.A County Fire Department.
The first person to speak was Captain Bob Jonsen.
“To say we had a busy weekend would be an understatement. But first and foremost, on behalf of all personnel at Lancaster Station, we would like to extend out condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of Reed Keith, who was tragically killed this weekend…I also wanted to express my gratitude to the numerous citizens who came forward immediately after the robbery and gave us some critical information, which expedited our identification of the suspect and the ultimate apprehension of that suspect.”
Captain Jonsen was also appreciative of his deputies and investigators who apprehended the suspect, 24-year-old Timothy Johnson, in less than 36 hours. “Without that collective effort [of the sherriff teams involved], I highly doubt the suspect would have been taken into custody so quickly after the incident.”
According to Lt. Matt Bernsen, the gunman shot Mr. Keith and robbed the store for several laptops. When a search warrant was conducted of suspect Timothy Johnson’s residence, they found several laptops along with the victim’s wallet. The investigation eventually led deputies to an undisclosed residence in South Los Angeles. “Mr. Johnson will be charged with two counts of robbery, torture and special circumstance murder. He is set for arraignment today and his bail is set at $1,000,000.”
Just before the conference ended, Lt. Bernsen had just received some new information on the robbery. “While I was giving my first briefing, I just found out that the suspect’s girlfriend, Jinea Ingram, who was a resident of Lancaster, was just arrested as well. She was the getaway driver in this incident.” She was arrested in the Antelope Valley and without incident.
Mayor R. Rex Parris was unable to attend the conference, but made this statement on the incident.
“The entire city council and I are outraged and saddened by this senseless loss of life. This was a horrific crime… Our sheriff’s department went right to work investigating any and all leads, in order to assure this very bad person was apprehended before any more senseless crimes could be committed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, criminals are not welcome in Lancaster. If you are stupid enough to commit a crime here, we will hunt you down and arrest you like this criminal.”
