Man convicted of first-degree murder for killing ex-girlfriend at Hawthorne police station – Daily Breeze

On Tuesday, October 29, a 36-year-old Hawthorne man was convicted by a jury of murder in connection with the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend during a custody exchange near the front door of the Hawthorne Police Department more than five years ago. authorities said.

After a week-long trial, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury at the airport courthouse took less than three hours to find Jacob Ryan Munn guilty of first-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm in connection with a fatal shooting that occurred on April 7, 2019, according to a courtroom official. court 28-year-old Brenda Renteria of Simi Valley.

They also found true the charge of lying in wait under special circumstances, said Zara Lockshin of the district attorney’s office.

Munn was scheduled to be sentenced on November 18.

During Monday’s closing arguments, prosecutor Karen Montoya told the jury that Munn arrived 40 minutes early for a scheduled 6 p.m. custody exchange so he could “look around the scene.” Arguing for first-degree murder, Montoya told the jury that that day, Munn took a shotgun that he usually kept under his bed to the station, parked his truck in a parking space and kept his driver’s side door open so he could escape more quickly.

She said Munn waited in his truck for Renteria to arrive, then attacked her, shooting her in front of their child, mother and sister.

Before the shooting, Munn had dropped off the former couple’s 17-month-old son at the police station. The boy was not injured.

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A shotgun blast left bullet holes in the side of Hawthorne police headquarters on April 8, 2019, less than a day after detectives said a man dropping off a child for a custody swap shot and killed the child’s mother. (Josh Cain/SCNG Staff)

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Munn’s public defender, Kimberly Greene, argued for voluntary manslaughter and stated that Munn acted rashly and was provoked by Rentia before the shooting. She also claimed Munn was becoming increasingly stressed and concerned about the tense custody battle for their son.

Evidence presented at trial showed Munn fired one shot but missed, aimed the Mossberg shotgun at the back of Renteria’s head and fired a second time, then slammed the gun into her body before running toward his truck and driving away.

An officer at the station heard gunshots and ran outside, firing at least one shot at Munn as he fled in the truck, but Munn was not hit, police said at the time.

Officers staged an inspection after finding his pickup truck in a Denny’s parking lot near 132nd Street and Hawthorne Boulevard. Three hours later and less than a mile from the station, they found Munn. A shotgun was found in his truck.

Police said at the time that they believed the exchange took place in Hawthorne because Munn had family in the area.

The shooting came more than a year after Munn was accused of beating up Renteria in the Temecula apartment they shared with roommates. According to an affidavit prepared to obtain an arrest warrant, the assault began as an argument because Renteria “didn’t wash his pants for work.”

The fatal shooting was the second serious call in Hawthorne that day. Earlier, a military veteran wanted on suspicion of firing shots in a hotel parking lot got into a shootout with Hawthorne police, leaving both he and one officer injured.

That suspect was James Louis Boyd III sentenced last week to more than 59 years in prison after he was convicted of two counts of assaulting a peace officer and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.

Originally published: October 29, 2024 at 5:14 pm PDT