A 30-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of fatally shooting his father, his father’s girlfriend and wounding two others in an Aliso Viejo home after an argument stemming from the father telling his son to stop drinking beer and to get a job, officials said.
Following a weeklong trial, jurors found Luke Ferguson, 30, guilty of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the Oct.12, 2017 shootings, along with enhancements that he personally discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury or death, Kimberly Edds, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, confirmed Wednesday afternoon.
Ferguson faces life without the possibility of parole at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 24.
Douglas Ferguson, 59, and Lisa Cosenza, 51, were killed at the home, owned by Cosenza. Two men who were renting rooms in the home were wounded, one of whom was left blind due to his injuries.
Cosenza was a former advertising director at the Daily Pilot newspaper.
Luke Ferguson fled the home after the shooting, but was later found in Inglewood driving a car belonging to one of the injured victims with another gun he had allegedly stolen from his father, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors during opening statements last week.
Walker said Ferguson may have committed the shootings because he was tired of being harassed about getting a job.
But public defender Chris McGibbons had told jurors the younger Ferguson hadn’t shown signs of violence prior to the shooting and said authorities never investigated after a neighbor told them an unidentified man appeared to have been hiding in a nearby backyard after Ferguson had left the neighborhood.
Ultimately, jurors sided with prosecutors, with the verdict being read about 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Source: Orange County Register
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