Man convicted of shooting girlfriend’s ex gets 40 years

TACOMA (AP) — A man convicted of shooting to death his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in Tacoma was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Andrew Pointer was sentenced Friday in Pierce County Superior Court for the 2019 death of Lawrence Jeffries, 38, The News Tribune reported.

A jury found Pointer, 39, guilty last month of first-degree murder and unlawfully having a firearm. The murder happened Aug. 4 when court documents say Pointer lured his girlfriend and Jeffries to a home in Tacoma’s Eastside neighborhood to talk.

Pointer and Jeffries previously had fought and prosecutors said Pointer was “beat down.” Shortly after Jeffries and the girlfriend got to the home, Pointer arrived, shot Jeffries in the chest and ran him over.

Pointer said that night he was moving his belongings out of the residence he shared with his girlfriend and had returned for a wallet, arriving at the same time as Jeffries.

During his five-week trial, Pointer argued he shot Jeffries in self-defense and claimed that he wrestled a gun from Jeffries before shooting him. Prosecutors showed that Pointer brought the gun and shot Jeffries from a distance.

Court documents said the murder stemmed from a long-time disagreement over how Pointer should treat his girlfriend, whom Jeffries used to date and with whom he had a daughter.

Pointer said in court he wished it was he who was shot.