A man condemned for murder after the shooting of a woman who closed him

Niki Lofredo was shot dead to death, according to Prosecutor Levy Grove, as “an innocent woman in the wrong place at the wrong moment.”

The 42 -year -old Lofredo of De Moj was shot dead on a residential sidewalk in July 2024 and died several days later in hospital. The shooter, as the defense lawyers admits, was James Johnson, 43 years old. But Johnson, who had no connection with Lofredo before the shooting, claims that he headed for the ground and denied to intend to kill her.

Polk County prosecutors claimed otherwise and proved their case to satisfy the jurors, which condemned Johnson on April 9 for a first -degree murder of Lofredo’s death.

Lofredo, who was shot dead in the early morning, while returning from the purchase of some snacks, managed to describe his attacker and his vehicle to the first responding officers, and police described Johnson as a suspect within an hour of firing. The jurors saw numerous videos of surveillance cameras and the bell showing an all -terrain -in -law circling the area, then pulled to Lofredo, stopping for a few seconds, then accelerating when it fell to the ground.

Investigators have also learned that a friend of Johnson has put on a gun for him. His DNA was found on the gun, and the ballistics tests coincided with bullets found in place.

“He trolls in the neighborhood, looking for a reason to use this pistol,” Grove said in his introductory statement.

At the stand, Johnson claims the intention was to be scared, not to kill

Johnson’s lawyers told the jurors that “you can’t deny the undeniable” and that Johnson is actually the shooter. But lawyers said they believed the evidence would show that it was not a deliberate murder.

The only witness to the defense was Johnson himself, who testified that he was marijuana throughout his life and a cocaine user. On the night of the shooting, he said, he was out to smoke a weed and deliver food with a friend and had a dispute over the phone with his girlfriend. “I didn’t want to go home and argue and fight,” he said, so he started to move around the neighborhood.

Johnson went to Lofredo several times while driving, and albeit a stranger, he said he thought he could be interested in high or hooked. At the intersection, he was rolling out of his window and “told her to come to check it,” he said.

She replied, he testified with obscene.

“It angered me,” he said. “I felt disregarded.”

Updates: The son of a deputy kills 2, wounded 6 on firing at Florida State University

Johnson said he was pulling up to her and fired four shots – with a pistol who was not allowed due to a few previous drug crimes – that he said they were targeting the sidewalk with the intention of scaring Lofredo. Then he set out, unaware that Lofredo had been hit in both hips, including a shot that pierced her femur and caused a catastrophic blood loss.

Still, evidence shows that Johnson, who was arrested on August 2, sent a message to his girlfriend that he had recently “jumped” someone.

Johnson admitted that he was saying a lot of lies in many police interviews, but said he felt an exceptional guilt that made him acknowledge responsibility for the March firing message to his girlfriend sent to prison.

“I never wanted to be responsible for something like that,” said Johnson, who at one point was torn. “I feel bad, I feel awful. I didn’t want to hurt her, I certainly didn’t want to kill her.”

Johnson is confronted with life in prison when he was sentenced to June 20.

Contribution: Jose Mendola, the de Mine register

This article originally appeared in des Moines Register: A man condemned for murder of a woman who rejected Catcall