Tustin police have arrested a parolee with a long criminal record in this month's shooting death of a local Home Depot store manager during a $500 robbery.
Jason Russell Richardson, 36, was taken into custody Thursday night in Oceanside during a visit with his parole officer, police said. He was being held Friday without bail in Orange County Jail.
He is accused of shooting Tom Egan, 40, a former Marine and the father of 3-year-old twin daughters, on Feb. 9.
Richardson was on parole for a 2002 spousal abuse conviction. His string of convictions includes rape, sexual assault on a child, grand theft burglary, narcotics and possession of stolen property, police said. He is a registered sex offender.
The killing attracted nationwide attention, spurring Home Depot's corporate office in Atlanta to offer a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the gunman.
Last week, NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, who heard Egan was a fan of stock car racing, put Egan's name on his Home Depot-sponsored Monte Carlo at the Daytona 500 as a tribute.
A surveillance camera showed a man dressed in a painter's jumpsuit and dust mask enter the store. When the robber pointed a gun at a cashier, Egan, an assistant manager on loan from the Santa Ana store, pleaded with the man to leave, Police Sgt. Jeff Blair said.
The gunman ignored Egan and proceeded to rob a cashier. When Egan followed him, Blair said, the robber shot him, continued cleaning out the register, stepped over the manager and fled.
A.J. Egan said the actions of her husband were typical of him because "he always put the care of others in front of himself."
The death struck a chord in the community, said City Councilman Jerry Amante. "To have somebody in broad daylight go to a place where all of us go to frequently and [then this guy shoots] somebody is distressing. We were just shocked and angered," Amante said.
At the Tustin store, customers said they were gratified with the arrest. "I'm a death-penalty advocate and would like to see him get a death sentence," said Judy Lee of Tustin, who was buying azaleas for her garden.
Richardson was arrested after police found DNA evidence at the scene that linked him to the crime, Blair said. Richardson's DNA sample was in the state's system as the result of a 1992 rape conviction.
Police placed him under surveillance and later connected him to a minivan that matched the description of the getaway vehicle.
