According to the court documents, the defendant, 26-year-old Kendel, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for killing 24-year-old Robert in 2020. Prosecutors said the defendant drove nearly 300 miles to kill the new boyfriend of the mother of his child. Kendel, who was found guilty of murder, shot and killed the wrong man, court records say.
According to the court documents, the 26-year-old defendant drove to a home where he thought the man his child’s mother was dating lived. Kendel then shot and killed Robert, because he thought he saw the boyfriend. According to the court documents, Kendel never actually saw the new boyfriend. He only knew that he was Black and had dreadlocks.
During the investigation, officers discovered that Kendel and another man bought two magazines for an AR-15 rifle. The same man, who was not identified, was initially charged with murder, but the DA’s office later dropped that charge. Robert ‘was gunned down in the parking lot because he was a black man with dreadlocks’, the only description that Kendel had.
Witness told authorities that they saw the victim walking before hearing gunshots. Shortly after the shooting, Robert was lying on the ground. Kendel was arrested shortly after and authorities recovered the AR-15 rifle from inside the vehicle.
