Joshua Cummings, 38, was found guilty of first-degree murder and has been sentenced to live in prison without parole
A former U.S. soldier who killed a transit security guard in downtown Denver last year was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.
After a three-day trial, a jury found Joshua Cummings, 38, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Scott Von Lanken, 56. Cummings received the mandatory sentence shortly after the verdict was read.
Police said he walked up behind Von Lanken while the guard was speaking to two women late at night on January 31, 2017, put a gun to his neck and shot him.
One of the women told investigators that Cummings said something like, ‘Do what you are told,’ just before he opened fire and ran away, according to police. He was found a short time later hiding on the terrace of an apartment building with a handgun.
Von Lanken, a father-of-two, was a former police officer who was working as a contract security guard for the Denver area’s Regional Transportation District.
Cummings told The Associated Press shortly after his arrest that he supported the Islamic State group, but investigators said they had not found any evidence that the terror group had anything to do with the killing.
Cummings was found guilty in the death of 56-year-old Scott Von Lanken (pictured). Cummings fatally shot Von Lanken in January 2017
Cummings, who joined the Army in 1996 but never saw combat, said he pledged his allegiance to IS and fasted behind bars for three days to purge himself of an oath he took to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
The Islamic convert from Pampa, Texas declined to discuss the crime with the AP or whether his support for the militant group led him to shoot Von Lanken.
Investigators previously said they had not found evidence the terror group had anything to do with the killing.
Members of mosques in the Denver area reported concerns about him to authorities before the shooting.
Cummings, who converted to Islam and pledged allegiance to ISIS, posted for and against law enforcement on social media
On December 24, 2016, a mosque leader emailed the Department of Homeland Security to say a man identifying himself as a Muslim convert named Joshua, from Pampa, Texas, made worrisome statements that day about fighting to establish ‘the rule of Islam’. The email also said the man had rebuked a speaker ‘as being soft’ on Shariah law earlier that month.
The FBI has declined to comment on what, if any, action agents took after Cummings was interviewed in December 2016.
Cummings had been vocal on Twitter about his views on Islam, and he was both critical and supportive of law enforcement.