Former 7-Eleven security guard sent to prison in fatal Las Vegas shooting

A former security guard who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a customer outside a northeast valley 7-Eleven after the patron allegedly refused to follow the store’s pandemic protocols was sentenced Thursday to five to 14 years in prison.

During the Thursday hearing, Kegia Mitchell, who had not been in custody, stood beside her lawyers, Scott Bindrup and Caitlin McAmis, sniffling as prosecutors argued that she “abused her authority” while trying to defuse an August 2020 altercation that left a 56-year-old Thomas Martin dead.

In April, Mitchell entered an Alford plea on two charges, voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon. In an Alford agreement, the defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to convict.

“How many times did we hear about 7-Eleven clerks shooting people and killing them during COVID? That wasn’t a thing — that didn’t happen. It’s isolated to Miss Mitchell because she abused her authority,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner told District Judge Tierra Jones.

“Mr. Martin wasn’t stealing,” the prosecutor added. “He cut a line. And what’s outrageous about it is that when he cuts the line, it is Miss Mitchell who puts her hand on his shirt first. And the rest of the struggle is Mr. Martin saying, ‘Get off of my clothing, let me go.’ And she won’t do it … Miss Mitchell ramps it up a whole other level. She pulls out a loaded gun, and she puts it to the side of his face.”

Hamner told the court that prosecutors had argued for a second-degree murder conviction during negotiations.

Responding to Hamner’s statements, McAmis told the judge that Mitchell was frightened and did not have adequate firearms training.

McAmis said that Mitchell faced significant pressure to enforce COVID-19 restrictions at her workplace, emphasizing that these measures were necessary for the business to stay open, for Mitchell to keep her job, and for her to continue supporting her child and fiancée.

“I understand that the state wants to portray (Mitchell) as out of control, as malicious, as someone who is violent and cannot be out in the community,” McAmis said, showing video surveillance of the event to Jones. “She only pulls out the firearm by the time you see him swatting. You see him lunging. And so the issue that we’re dealing with, unfortunately, seems to be a fight-or-flight response.”

McAmis referenced Martin’s postmortem toxicology result, which she said revealed that he had a large amount of methamphetamine in his system.

After the shooting, Mitchell was remorseful and apologetic when talking with police, McAmis said.

“At this point, she is realizing the morality of what she has done, and she doesn’t feel good about it. That doesn’t express malice, that doesn’t express second-degree (murder),” McAmis said. “That expresses that this was a self-defense that went wrong.”

Martin’s partner, Sandra Tinglof, told the judge that the Hawaii-native loved surfing and nature. Tinglof, who was with Martin at the convenience store when he was shot, called him the love of her life.

“One of the main tragedies of this whole situation is that if Mitchell had put her gun down and talked to Tommy, she would have liked him, because everybody did,” Tinglof said. “And for the defense to use Tommy’s addiction against him, in my view, is cruel. Everyone here knows somebody with an addiction problem. It doesn’t mean you can hurt them or kill them.”

Before announcing her sentence, Jones spoke to the defendant directly. She said she took issue mainly with what happened outside of the convenience store that day.

“Miss Mitchell, you were a security guard. It was your job to keep everything safe while you were inside the store. And then Mr. Martin is outside the store,” Jones said. “We cannot just have the citizens of Clark County shooting people who don’t comply with what it is that they ask them to do.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.