Jurors returned a guilty verdict for second-degree murder on Tuesday against a man accused of fatally shooting a woman in the back over a salad.

Prosecutors had asked that Rainier Jefferson , 37, be found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Mallery Armijo . Jefferson was arrested in 2023 after a June shooting outside a 7-Eleven near Sahara Avenue and Joe W Brown Drive.

Authorities have said that Armijo was inside the store with items in her hands and a premade salad in her purse. Jefferson, a store clerk, instructed Armijo to put the items down. After she complied, he chased her outside — even though pursuing shoplifters violated 7-Eleven policy, said Deputy District Attorney Kayla Farzaneh-Simmons.

In the store’s parking lot, Jefferson tried to grab Armijo’s purse, and one of

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