KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Leavenworth County jury Tuesday convicted a man of killing a woman who was likely not the killer's intended target.
Jerell Dewayne Martin, 29, shot and killed 20-year-old Ericka Hopkins on July 15, 2022, as Hopkins sat on stairs at the Woodland Village Apartments, according to a news release from the Leavenworth County Attorney's Office.
Law officers talked to witnesses and looked at surveillance video from the apartment complex to help identify Martin.
The video shows Martin hiding at one end of an apartment building at the complex and shooting at people at the other end of the building, the news release states.
"This is a case of transferred intent," Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said in the news release. "Even though Martin may not have intended to shoot and kill this victim, his intent to shoot at someone else created this first-degree murder. Excellent work (was) done by law enforcement for being able to determine who the shooter was. No one should have to fear dying sitting on their front stoop.”
Martin is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 20, 2023.
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