Lake Elsinore Circle K Killing: Police Arrest Suspect

LAKE ELSINORE, CA – Sheriff's officials have arrested a man related to the gunning down and killing of a store clerk at a Lake Elsinore Circle K this week during an apparent robbery. James Coon, 26, was booked on a murder charge Wednesday in the death of the clerk, Eric Whitcomb of Wildomar, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department reports.

The shooting happened around 5:20 a.m. Wednesday at the convenience store in the 1600 block of Lakeshore Drive, according to sheriff's Sgt. Raymond Huskey. Authorities received an assault with a deadly weapon call and responded immediately.

"Officers arrived on scene within minutes and found store clerk Eric Whitcomb, 47 years old, of Wildomar, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds," Huskey said in a news release. "He was tended to by medical services and pronounced deceased a short time later."

By the same afternoon, investigators were ready to arrest their suspect.

"At 2:30 p.m., investigators arrested suspect James Coon, 26 years old, at his home in Lake Elsinore for the murder of Mr. Whitcomb," Huskey said.

Additional details surrounding the incident weren't provided, but jail booking records indicate that Coon was booked on burglary and robbery charges, in addition to murder. He was taken to the downtown Riverside jail and held without bail.

Whitcomb had worked for Circle K for the last 12 years, according to company representatives who condemned the shooting as "... a senseless act of violence."

Friends and family have set up a GoFundMe to help out his family.

"After 12 years on the job, there is without a doubt a hole in the hearts of all who knew Eric," the page states.

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Jail booking photo of James Coon via Riverside County Sheriff's Department