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The paths of Laura S. Pierce and Tyrell D. Jones crossed early on the morning of Jan. 2. The results, for both, were tragic.
Pierce, the 42-year-old Kwik Shop clerk shot to death after giving robbers the money they demanded, was described by family and friends as shy and thoughtful.
Court documents describe Jones, 18, as a rudderless teen who rarely thought about his future or what his actions meant.Authorities say those actions cost Pierce her life.
She was Omaha’s first homicide victim of 2009.
The story of her death shocked and angered many. Store owners and police tell employees to comply with robbers demands, give up the money. Pierce did just that and was shot and killed anyway by one of two masked men.
Police arrested Jones, of 15329 Monroe St., Thursday on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
He appeared in court Friday afternoon looking small, at 5-foot-5, 145 pounds and wearing glasses. Douglas County Judge Marcena Hendrix ordered that he be held without bail.
Authorities say they don’t think Jones was the shooter. Police are looking for the second man.
Jones was brought back to Omaha on Thursday. He was in custody in an unrelated case.
Jones’ mother, Vonda Jones, declined to comment on her son’s arrest. His father, Richard Lampkin, couldn’t be reached.
News of the arrest cheered the Rev. Glenn Harless, Pierce’s pastor at Thanksgiving Lutheran Church in Bellevue.
“I’m so glad there has been an arrest,” he said. “That means there is potential for justice, and that’s something we have been praying for a long time.”
According to an affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrant for Jones:
Video from the store, 3222 Q St., shows two masked men enter, neither wearing gloves. They are seen touching the cash register till. Police took the till and drawer and matched a fingerprint to Jones.
Pierce was shot in the stomach and a bullet lodged in her vertebrae.
The two men fled from the store to a vehicle waiting nearby.
Police received a Crime Stoppers tip saying one of the men involved in the shooting was known as “Lil Lampkin” or Tryell Lampkin. Police later found that Jones used the alias “Lil Lampkin.”
Jones was arrested in late October on a criminal impersonation charge and was being held in the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Kearney.
Jones has told authorities he is a member of a gang, the South Family Bloods. He said he had been acquainted with the gang since he was about 6 years old.
According to court documents, Jones began smoking marijuana daily when he was 11 years old.
His arrests include charges of shoplifting and arson, the first coming just months after he turned 10.
His mother tried getting him to obey her and to adhere to a curfew. She said he once became violent and tried punching her.
The court documents state that Jones said he felt like his siblings were treated differently than he was — that his mother was more lenient with them.
He spent several stints in the Douglas County Youth Center and group homes.
Jones also was arrested in a May 2007 carjacking and robbery of a Pizza Hut delivery man.
In that case, police traced the phone call made to Pizza Hut to an apartment with about seven people inside, including Jones. There, police recovered the gun and clothing thought to have been used in the robbery.
However, the Pizza Hut delivery driver couldn’t identify any of the robbers. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said prosecutors believed Jones had something to do with the robbery but couldn’t prove it.
Charges were dismissed, and Jones was released from jail in February 2008. The Juvenile Court retained jurisdiction over him because of earlier cases.
A relative of Pierce’s said he got the call from police Thursday night about the arrest.
Ken Capps, of Falls City, said he still thinks about his niece, for whom he became a father figure after her parents died.
He said she suffered from bipolar disorder but was seeing a therapist and doing well.
Capps said he last talked to her on Christmas, that she would call and he would cheer her up. She was in good spirits when they last spoke.
He still thinks about Pierce often, and how she complied with the orders of the gunman but still was shot.
“They shot her as an afterthought,” he said.
Pierce was fearful living in Omaha and was trying to find work in Falls City but couldn’t.
“I hope they catch the other guy, and I hope this guy is convicted and goes to jail for life,” he said. “I’m very happy with the work Omaha police did ... they should be commended for getting it solved this far, and I hope they catch the other guy.”
After graduating from high school in 1984, Pierce studied business at Peru State College in southeast Nebraska and later moved to California. She worked for a dime store chain and soon decided she did not care much for California.
She moved back to Omaha, got married and then divorced. She settled by herself in an apartment southwest of 48th and L Streets.
In her free time, she enjoyed crocheting and shopping at discount stores. She loved her brown Chrysler LeBaron convertible, family members said.
Pierce once told her aunt, Marilyn Capps, that she’d never fight back if she was confronted at the store by robbers. “She’d just give ’em the money,” Capps said. “And she did.”
World-Herald staff writers Todd Cooper and Leia Baez-Mendoza contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com
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