Apple Valley inmate serving life for 7-Eleven slaying suspected of killing Folsom cellmate
An inmate from Apple Valley serving a life sentence for murdering a 7-Eleven clerk is suspected of killing his cellmate over the weekend, according to authorities.
Shamar L. Thornton, 36, of Apple Valley, is being investigated in the death of his cellmate, 37-year-old Deandre A. Lewis, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Lewis was found unresponsive in his cell on Saturday morning at California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom. He was later pronounced dead, according to a statement by the CDCR.
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Details of Lewis’s death weren’t immediately released, and the coroner in Sacramento County will determine the exact cause of death.
The Investigative Services Unit at CSP-SAC is investigating the case, and the Office of the Inspector General was notified.
Thornton was admitted from San Bernardino County in June 2009 to serve life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.
Thornton was also sentenced in SBC that year to serve a concurrent three-year sentence for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant.
In 2018, Lewis was sentenced to prison from Contra Costa County and was serving life with the possibility of parole for torture, rape, bodily injury, and other crimes, authorities said.
In addition, he was sentenced to serve 20 years for pimping, human trafficking with the use of a gun, false imprisonment, pandering a minor over 16 years old with violence, and other crimes.
7-Eleven clerk
During a videotaped interview in 2009, Thornton told investigators how he and accomplice, Jerome Session, entered a 7-Eleven on March 21, 2006, according to a previous Daily Press story.
After the duo entered the store on Apple Valley Road and Highway 18, Thornton and Session found store clerk William Gould, 31, sweeping the floor.
Gould, who was told to drop the broom then was pushed to the counter, said, “I'll give you all the money. Just don't hurt me,” Thornton said during the interview.
When Gould opened the first cash register, Thornton said it only had "chump change" and that the second register didn't have very much. The amount taken in the robbery was $62.
Looking for a store safe, the men pushed Gould into a darkened back room of the store. That’s when Gould said the store did not have a safe.
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Session stood in front of Gould, appearing like he was preventing Thornton from shooting the clerk, Thornton said.
When Session left the back room, Gould was standing in the corner with his hands up as Thornton raised the gun with both hands, Thornton said.
"He was mumbling something before I shot the clerk," Thornton said on the video.
Thornton said the first shot made Gould fall on his back, and his second shot hit a computer screen on the counter.
“Everything went blank, and I kept shooting two or three more. I'm not exactly sure how many shots," Thornton said.
The medical examiner testified that Gould suffered as many as 10 gunshot wounds with 26 entry and exit wounds.
Gould was a father of four and was only a few classes short of earning his associate degree from Victor Valley College in Victorville when he died.
A few days after the shooting, Thornton said his family told him how much he resembled the person from the store's surveillance images on television news in Los Angeles.
"I was surprised to see Apple Valley on the news," Thornton said on the video.
The store images and other tips helped lead detectives to Thornton and Session.
Toward the end of the videotaped interview, Thornton said he wanted to find out something from San Bernardino County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Donald Lupear.
"Can I ask you a question?" Thornton said.
"Sure," Lupear replied.
"I'm gonna get life, huh?" Thornton asked.
"That's up to the district attorney, but I can tell you, you're under arrest right now for murder and robbery," Lupear said.
In October 2009, Session was on trial in Victorville Superior Court when a jury found him guilty of murder, robbery, and a special circumstance of committing the murder during a robbery.
Second prison death
Lewis' death was one of two suspected homicides in the California prison system over the weekend.
Inmate Benjy S. Wade, 40, died on Saturday at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, in Lassen County.
"Life-saving measures were implemented; however, Wade succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at 5:15 p.m.," state prison officials said.
Wade was admitted to prison in August 2021 from Colusa County to serve 13 years for robbery with the use of a weapon.
John C. Connell, his cellmate, is suspected of Wade's death, authorities said.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Instagram @RenegadeReporter and Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Apple Valley 7-Eleven killer suspected in Folsom cellmate's slaying
