A San Francisco man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison this morning for the murder of a man killed in a shootout after he interrupted the burglary of an Ingleside home in 2012, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
A jury on May 2 convicted Roderick Thomas, 26, of San Francisco of first-degree murder with a gun enhancement and first-degree residential burglary.
The fatal shooting happened when Thomas and as many as two other men broke into a home of an aspiring rapper and marijuana dealer in the 300 block of Louisburg Street at 11:30 p.m. on April 1, 2012, prosecutors said.
Jahmad Karriem, 20, was visiting the home and walked in while it was being burglarized, prosecutors said. A shootout between Karriem and one of the burglars broke out and Karriem was shot and killed.
The shooting went unsolved for a year until police arrested another man involved in the shooting on May 30, 2013, identified as 20-year-old Marcellis Williams.
At the same time, police announced that Thomas was also wanted in the shooting and he remained at large.
Thomas was also implicated in an armed robbery of a marijuana dealer in Daly City and committed the San Francisco burglary while out on bail. He later fled to Palmdale, where he was arrested on Aug. 23, 2013, district attorney’s office spokesman Max Szabo said.
Williams reached a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to manslaughter and burglary charges. On July 1 of this year he was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison, according to Szabo.
District Attorney George Gascón praised the sentence today.
“This is a violent man who was a threat to public safety,” Gascón said in a statement. “He has no regard for life, and San Francisco is a better place with him off the streets.”
There was potentially a third suspect in the burglary, which remains under investigation, Szabo said.
Scott Morris, Bay City News
