Joshua Cummings, a former soldier from Texas who made social media postings about police brutality, U.S. sovereignty and Islamic teachings in the months before he shot an armed Regional Transportation District security officer in the head, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A Denver District Court jury convicted Cummings, 38, on Thursday was convicted of first-degree murder after a three-day trial.
Thursday afternoon he was sentenced for the Jan. 31 murder of Scott Von Lanken, 56. Von Lanken, a contract security officer, was helping light-rail passengers near Denver Union Station when he was killed.
Von Lanken, a former La Crosse, Wis., police officer who had worked for RTD security for about six years, had been a pastor at Valley Assembly of God, now known as Celebration Church, in Loveland before moving to Ohio for a brief period. Von Lanken and his family returned to Loveland, where he remained close with local ministries.
