RICHMOND, Va. — After deliberating for hours, a jury found guilty one of the men involved in a Broad Street jewelry store robbery and fatal shooting.
Jesse G. Edmond, age 49, was found guilty of first- degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, one count of using firearm while committing murder, and one count of using a firearm during a robbery. The jury recommended two life sentences plus 18 years.
Edmonds was accused of killing Victoria Jewelers clerk Muhammad “Sunny” Baig, age 29, one early May afternoon in 2014.
He was fatally shot inside the store along East Broad Street downtown where he worked. The owner told CBS 6 news that every diamond and precious gem in the store were stolen.
Baig’s wife gave birth to the couple’s baby one day after the murder. She named the child Shifa, which means “healer.”
A total of four suspects were arrested in connection with the crime, three who had lengthy criminal records.
Anthony J. Lenard, 26 and Jermeaka M. Gorham, age 28, were apprehended, with Edmonds, in North Carolina, during a traffic stop by Roanoke Rapids Police.
Paul Townes, age 24, was later arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Townes entered a guilty plea in Nov. 2014, and Leonard and Gorham entered plea deals.
The suspects were originally located because an earlier incident in Henrico County, at the C & F Bank, that same day of the shooting had helped police come up with a description of the suspects’ vehicle.
Henrico Police confirmed there was a suspicious incident there, but no crime was ever committed.
The victim’s brother, also Muhammad Baig, took the stand and said, “One person was killed, but in reality five people were killed: a wife, daughter, brother, father and him died.”
He said that three months after the murder Sunny’s wife buried their two-year-old son, who was mentally ill.
