Man receives 75 years to life in prison for murder in El Cajon

A man who shot and killed another man in El Cajon nearly three years ago was sentenced this week to 75 years to life in state prison.

Chantell Tompkins, 39, was sentenced Tuesday in El Cajon Superior Court for the Aug. 25, 2021, shooting death of 30-year-old Andre Carrol.

According to police, Carrol was found fatally injured on Sandalwood Drive shortly before 12:30 a.m. Paramedics took the victim to a hospital, where he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Tompkins left the scene in a van and was stopped and arrested by police a short time later on Interstate 8 in Mission Valley.

Prosecutors said the killing sparked a second fatal shooting in retaliation, which occurred less than a week later.

On August 30, 51-year-old Arthur Williams was sitting in his vehicle near Dennis Allen Memorial Park in the Mount Hope neighborhood when the driver of an SUV pulled alongside his car and opened fire, according to police.

Prosecutors allege that Williams was an accomplice of Tompkins.

Anthony Goodrich Austin was arrested in March 2022 in connection with Williams' murder. Prosecutors said witness statements and cellphone records placed Austin at the scene of Williams' murder.

Austin was found guilty by a San Diego jury of first-degree murder and discharging a firearm from a vehicle under special circumstances and sentenced last year to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Originally published: August 21, 2024 at 16:47