Southern California Man Found Guilty of Two Murders

According to KNSD in San Diego, a 23-year-old man by the name of Tecumseh Colbert was found guilty on Thursday for murdering University City mortgage broker Robert Anthony McCamey as well as Ocean Beach liquor store clerk Richard Hammes in the later part of 2004. The jury of twelve which included six men and six women, had only been in deliberations for just seven days when they found Tecumseh Colbert guilty on two counts of first-degree murder as well as conspiracy to carjack and commit robbery. The penalty phase of this murder trial will start on July 5th where Tecumseh Colbert could receive the death penalty.

KNSD in San Diego said the murderous rampage began on October 29, 2004 when Colbert persuaded his 26-year-old girlfriend by the name of Tatiana Daniel to bait 32-year-old McCamey to come to the Meadowbrook Apartments in Bay Terraces where she was residing. McCamey had owed $8,000 in drug money to Colbert's friend by the name of Theron Peters. Colbert's plan was to carjack McCamey's Lincoln Navigator. After McCamey followed Daniel to her apartment and stepped out of his vehicle, Colbert approached McCamey and fired off five bullets into him using a .357 magnum.

Shortly after, a police officer who was patrolling the area heard gunshots and went to the Meadowbrook Apartments where he found the mortgage broker deceased on a sidewalk.

The second murder occurred less than two weeks later on November 10th. 45-year-old Hammes who was homeless at the time was doing a favor for store owner Saad Ewdish by filling in at the Prime Market Liquor Store in Ocean Beach for a short time. Colbert entered the store dressed completely in black which included a hooded sweatshirt and he wore a mask used in the horror film "Scream" in an attempt to commit a robbery while Theron Peters waited in the car. Surveillance video caught Colbert walking into the store holding up a gun and confronting Hammes behind the counter. Hammes refuses to give the gunmen any money and walks around the counter while Colbert backs up and reveals a second gun in his other hand. The two then step out of the sight of the surveillance video.