| For Immediate Release February 26, 2007 |
Contact: Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 |
MURDER CHARGES FILED AGAINST PAROLEE
FOR SHOOTING AND KILLING MANAGER
AT HOME DEPOT IN TUSTIN
SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney has field charges against a parolee for shooting and murdering a store manager and father of three at a Home Depot in Tustin. Jason Russell Richardson, 36, Oceanside, is charged with murder, the special circumstances of murder during the commission of a robbery and a burglary, and a sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death. If convicted, he faces a potential death penalty case. He is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon, Monday, February 26, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
On February 9, 2007, Richardson is accused of entering a Home Depot in Tustin wearing a painter’s mask and clothes to disguise his identity. He is accused of walking to the front of the store and demanding cash from a store clerk. As the clerk removed cash from the register, Richardson is accused of turning and shooting the store manager, Thomas Egan, a father of twin girls. The defendant is accused of then fleeing the scene, and was later linked to the murder through DNA evidence.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Cameron Talley of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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