SANTA ANA — A 31-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of fatally shooting a 21-year-old neighbor over a dispute about smoking in Brea.
Sidney Bararchie Clarke of Brea was convicted of first-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the discharge of a firearm causing death.
Police were called to the Raintree Apartments at 650 N. Tamarack Ave. at about 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30, 2023, where Logan Kahmar was found dead on his patio with 17 gunshot wounds, according to prosecutors.
Kahmar’s infant daughter was found alone inside the apartment, prosecutors added.
Clarke lived in the upstairs apartment above the victim’s. Detectives found paperwork for a gun in the safe in the defendant’s apartment and the next day investigators caught up to Clarke in his Jeep Grand Cherokee in the parking lot of a coffee shop in Los Angeles, prosecutors said.
Police found the murder weapon in the defendant’s backpack, they said.
Clarke told investigators that he had been having issues with Kahmar, accusing him of “drinking, yelling racial epithets, and being a nuisance in the community,” according to prosecutors.
Clarke also complained about Kahmar’s frequent smoking and said he had a “verbal confrontation” with the victim just before he was shot.