OAKLAND — An Oakland man was convicted of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the 2020 shooting death of his onetime neighbor, a homicide that exposed institutional failures and led to a multimillion-dollar settlement for the victim’s widow.
Jamal Thomas, 47, was convicted Tuesday of murdering 44-year-old Miles Armstead. Jurors deliberated for one day before reaching the verdict.
Armstead, an Oakland resident who left behind a pregnant wife, was shot and killed on May 1, 2020, while working on remodeling his home in anticipation of moving. It was Thomas’ harassment that inspired the couple’s decision to move. On nearly two dozen instances, Thomas was arrested on suspicion of harassing and threatening the couple or vandalizing their home on the 7500 block of Ney Avenue, including by throwing a brick through a window that nearly struck Armstead’s wife, according to court filings.
After one arrest for threatening the Armsteads, Thomas openly voiced his intentions to murder Armstead when police sat him down for an interview.
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“Guess what guys? I’ll be right back,” Thomas told Oakland officers, according to court records. “I’m gonna kill him next time.”
Thomas was identified as the shooter by multiple neighbors. He had previously lived next door to Armstead but had been evicted months earlier, then continued to squat at the residence. Others on the block were familiar with his appearance, but Thomas’ lawyer wrote in court papers that some of the witnesses identified the shooter as having long dreadlocks, and that when Thomas was arrested his hair was short.
The well-documented lead-up to the murder prompted a lawsuit by Armstead’s widow and a $2.4 million settlement, paid by Alameda County and the city of Oakland. The suit alleged that the county’s probation department and Oakland police had missed warning signs and failed to act on a situation that was escalating toward violence.
Thomas is set to be sentenced in mid-August. He faces 25 years to life on the murder charge alone.