TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing a man he knew in a hail of bullets at a Tacoma gas station.
Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said Wednesday in a news release that Robert Grott was sentenced Friday in the murder of 23-year-old Julian “Jay” Thomas.
Prosecutors say Grott fired nearly 50 rounds outside a gas station in February 2016, killing Thomas as he sat in a car. Authorities say he was struck more than 10 times.
A jury convicted Grott of second-degree murder and seven counts of assault for others who could have been injured that day.
The News Tribune reports (https://goo.gl/GhqDp3 ) some jurors said they believed post-traumatic stress disorder may have affected Grott, an ex-Marine, that day.
Grott argued that he fired at Thomas in self-defense. Family members say the two had been in a dispute.
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Information from: The News Tribune, https://www.thenewstribune.com
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