3 found guilty of fatally shooting Tacoma teen outside convenience store

Three people were convicted Thursday in the killing last year of a Tacoma teen who had just bought candy at a convenience store.

Jermohnn Gore, Clifford Krentkowski and Alexander Kitt were found guilty of first-degree murder and four counts each of first-degree assault in Pierce County Superior Court, with each conviction carrying a firearm sentencing enhancement. Gore, 17, and Kitt, 24, were both convicted of one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, and Gore was also found guilty of intimidating a witness.

Six people were charged in the May 1, 2015, drive-by shooting of 19-year-old Brandon Morris at a convenience store on the corner of South 45th Street and South Puget Sound Avenue. Morris was mistaken for a gang member because someone in the group he was with was wearing a red shirt, investigators believe. Morris died five days later from the gunshot wound to his head.

Morris was an organ donor, and his donations saved the lives of two people, his mother told The News Tribune last year.

Kitt and Gore both fired handguns during the shooting, and Krentkowski, 18, was holding an assault-style rifle he did not use during the shooting, charging documents say. Kitt fired the shot that killed Morris.

Two other occupants of the car — Trevion Tucker, 16, and the driver Lance Milton-Ausley, 18 — have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and await their sentencing.

A third — Jeremy Bolieu, 17 — pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in April and was sentenced to 15 years, 3 months in prison.

Gore, Krentkowski and Kitt are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 9.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "3 found guilty of fatally shooting Tacoma teen outside convenience store."