SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Silver Spring man faces life in prison for the murder of a convenience store clerk.
A jury found 33-year-old Torrey Damien Moore guilty of first-degree murder, use of a gun while committing a violent crime and illegal possession of a gun in the death of 61-year-old Ayalew Wondimu.
The verdict was announced Thursday, and Moore faces life in prison in connection to the shooting. He is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 12.
According to evidence, on Feb. 8, 2022, Moore walked into the Dash In Convenience Store on New Hampshire Avenue to buy a bottle of iced tea. Moore had previously been banned from the store. Moore and the store clerk, Wondimu, got into an argument and Moore began throwing energy drink shots at the clerk.
Wondimu then picked up a metal pole and attempted to hit Moore as he ordered him to leave the store. Moore then pulled out a gun and shot Wondimu. As Wondimu fell to the floor, Moore leaned over the counter and shot the clerk a total of three times before running away. The shooting was captured by a store surveillance camera.
After identifying Moore as the suspect in the shooting death, on Feb. 9, officers went to his apartment on Oak Leaf Drive in Silver Spring to arrest him. At his apartment, officers found the decomposing body of his pregnant girlfriend inside the apartment. An autopsy revealed the woman, identified as 26-year-old Denise Middleton, had been shot multiple times.
Before Moore is sentenced in the death of the store clerk, he is scheduled to stand trial in a separate murder case, for the death of his pregnant girlfriend on Nov. 18. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and other related charged for her death and that of her unborn fetus.
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