A Pennsylvania jury deliberated for less than four hours before finding a North Carolina man guilty on murder charges for the shooting death of a truck driver in 2015.
Last week Rodney Shelton, 39, was convicted on charges of second-degree murder as well as robbery and firearms charges by a jury in Delaware County, according to the Delaware County Times.
The charges stem from the shooting death of 63 year old truck driver Thomas Childs, who was shot twice in the early morning hours of June 9, 2015, at Ridgeway Industries in Yeadon as he was preparing to make a run to New York. Childs had worked for Ridgeway Industries for fifteen years.
Childs was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of gunshot wounds.
Police later found $23 and Childs’ cellphone dumped in a nearby cemetery.
Shelton was on the lam for a year and a half before he was captured and charged for Childs’ death after a manhunt assisted by the U.S. Marshals.
Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said of the jury’s decision, “Tonight justice was served with the verdict of the jury. With the help of our dedicated law enforcement partners, including the Yeadon Police Department, the Criminal Investigation Division, the ATF, the United States Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Marshals and others, we were able to hold the defendant accountable for the horrific killing of an innocent man.”
Copeland says that Shelton is facing a mandatory minimum of life in prison following the conviction.