Former store clerk convicted in 2024 fatal shooting

A former gas station clerk who prosecutors said tracked down and fatally shot 36-year-old James Rendon following a burglary at the store in 2024 was convicted by a jury Friday of first-degree murder.

Stephen McCorkle, 39, was working the graveyard shift at the Shwan gas station at Lomas and Louisiana NE when he made the mistake of leaving the business unlocked and unattended, setting off a free-for-all of theft captured on the store's security video.

Prosecutors told jurors Friday that McCorkle was so angered by the thefts that he retrieved a handgun, tracked Rendon down by car and fatally shot him in a residential neighborhood a few blocks from the store.

Jurors returned the verdict Friday following a five-day trial in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge Courtney Weaks. A first-degree murder conviction requires McCorkle to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

McCorkle's attorney, Rose Osborne, said in closing arguments that McCorkle fired two gunshots in self-defense after Rendon and others confronted him with guns and battered his car.

"Mr. McCorkle went looking for the thieves to get the merchandise back," Osborne told jurors Friday. "He found them and it turned ugly and then he did what he needed to do to get out of there."

McCorkle, testifying in his own defense, told jurors on Thursday that he encountered 11 people, including two people with guns. McCorkle said he fired two gunshots but didn't know anyone had been injured.

"Mr. McCorkle was trapped in the car and he fired his weapon in order to get away," Osborne told jurors.

Albuquerque police found Rendon fatally shot around 6 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2024, in the 1300 block of Georgia NE, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court. Officials found $20 and $100 bills stuffed in Rendon's pants, it said.

Prosecutors said the fatal series of events started about 4:30 a.m. when McCorkle left the Shwan gas station where he was working the graveyard shift to return to his apartment across the street for about 30 minutes.

"He's not the best employee," prosecutor Gabriel Kallen told jurors Friday. "He leaves the store unlocked and undefended for an extraordinary amount of time."

Store security video viewed by jurors showed a number of people entering and exiting the store stealing merchandise.

Rendon rifled through the cash register and stole up to $400 in cash, then ran from the store after McCorkle returned. The video showed McCorkle retrieve a gun, then drive away in his car.

Several minutes later, two gunshots spaced about 15 seconds apart are audible in the recording, Kallen said.

McCorkle's thought process is visible in the security video, Kallen said. McCorkle realized he was in trouble with his employer for leaving the store unlocked and determined to track down Rendon, he said.

"At this point he knows what he's going to do," Kallen said. "He makes a decision to kill."