By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Nov. 04, 2011
Members of Pamela Garmon's family - clad in white T-shirts memorializing her - wept in court Thursday as Jamarr Springs told a judge he loved the woman he shot to death with an AK-47.
Springs, 29, was sentenced in Mecklenburg County Superior Court to a maximum of 48 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The sentence includes punishments for several crimes he committed while trying to elude police - robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and kidnapping.
Prosecutors say Garmon was planning to end her relationship with Springs last December. Upstairs in the house they shared in west Charlotte, she told him she was planning to move to California.
During the argument that ensued, Springs grabbed an AK-47 rifle he kept in the house and started shooting, according to Assistant District Attorney Clayton Jones. In all, Springs fired 20 rounds as Garmon ran down the stairs trying to escape. She collapsed in the kitchen and died there, struck by seven bullets.
As Springs tried to flee, he attempted to stop a car with two people inside, Jones said. When they drove around him, he fired a shot into the driver's side door.
Later, Springs forced a driver out of a car at Northlake Mall and made the vehicle's passenger ride with him as he drove to a relative's house. That's where the police dragnet closed in.
On Thursday, Cynthia Garmon, Pamela's mother, called Springs' actions "a real cruel and cowardly act."
In court just before his sentencing, Springs said he was sorry for a crime he described as "heinous and brutal." He said he was "under the influence" at the time, and didn't even realize he was shooting at Garmon.
Then he said a few words to her family:
"I really loved her. Anyone that knows me, that really knows me, knows I really loved her. When I was shooting her, I didn't even know it was her because I was so under the influence.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. I miss her just as much as her family. And I pray and hope they will find a way to forgive me."
Wootson: 704-358-5046
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/04/2746281/man-who-shot-girlfriend-i-loved.html#ixzz1cpuXP26w
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