A former Bradenton Beach resident was convicted of first-degree murder and other offenses Nov. 4 in connection with the killing in September 2019 of Mohammed Hamed, a 23-year-old Bradenton shop clerk.
Amado Alexander Zeppi, 23, of Bradenton and formerly of Bradenton Beach, and Coty Paulk, 24, of Bradenton, were convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm after a jury trial that began Oct. 31 at the Manatee County Judicial Center in Bradenton.
The crimes carry a mandatory life sentence.
Paulk was sentenced Nov. 4 to life on both counts.
Zeppi’s sentencing date was not set as of Nov. 9.
Zeppi, Paulk and two others — James L. Brewer of Bradenton and Michael C. Hepner of Palmetto, who testified during the trial and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder — were arrested for robbing the Green Galaxy Smoke Shop.
Zeppi and Paulk had firearms and it was Zeppi who shot Hamed with a semiautomatic carbine rifle while the man was sitting on the floor of the shop.
The shooting was captured on surveillance video, which Hamed’s brother watched from a remote location and called law enforcement.
Zeppi was arrested Sept. 18, 2019 — less than 24 hours after the shooting — in the parking lot of his former employer, a restaurant on Longboat Key.
Assistant State Attorney Rebecca Freel, in a news release, said the jury “worked very hard and with their guilty verdicts made our county a safer place. This was a senseless murder that was solved by the diligent work of the detectives at the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, who arrested three of the four perpetrators within 36 hours of the offense.”
— Lisa Neff