Mum shot dead in the street by man after she rejected his catcalls

A mum in the US was shot dead by a man she did not know after she rejected his catcall in the street.

James Johnson, 43, was found guilty of murdering Nikki Loffredo, 42, and could face life in jail.

Ms Loffredo was walking alone in Des Moines, Iowa in the early hours of July last year when Johnson slowed down his car and yelled at her.

He shouted ‘come get high’, to which she replied, ‘Who are you? Never mind, f**k off’, according to the Polk County Attorney’s Office.

Johnson then fired a gun at her several times, leaving her with wounds to her thighs.

One of the bullets hit a critical artery, causing her to suffer extreme blood loss. She died from her injuries in hospital a few days later.

Before her death Ms Loffredo managed to describe her killer and his vehicle and police tracked Johnson down.

They found text messages on his phone where he admitted to his girlfriend that he had ‘popped’ someone.

He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm, which he had illegally. 

Investigators later recovered the murder weapon, which had Johnson’s DNA on it. A friend had pawned it at his request.

During his trial Johnson claimed he had not mean to kill Ms Loffredo.

He said he had been smoking marijuana and taking cocaine the day of her death, and after an argument with his girlfriend, left home to drive around the neighbourhood. 

He claimed that when Ms Loffredo yelled back at him it ‘pissed’ him off and he ‘felt disrespected’. 

He said he meant to aim his gun at the sidewalk to scare Ms Loffredo and didn’t intend for the bullets to hit her.

‘I never wanted to be responsible for something like that,’ he said while crying. 

‘I feel bad, I feel terrible. I didn’t mean to hurt her, I certainly didn’t mean to kill her.’

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that Johnson had gone out that night intending to use his gun against an unsuspecting individual. 

‘He was trolling the neighborhood looking for a reason to use that gun,’ prosecutor Levi Groove said in his opening statement. 

Groove said that Ms Loffredo was ‘an innocent woman in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ 

The jury watched surveillance footage of the moment when Johnson pulled up to Ms Loffredo and unloaded his gun. 

He could be seen circling the area before pausing to catcall her.

The footage then showed Ms Loffredo falling to the ground as the bullets hit her.

He was convicted with first-degree murder on April 9.

Paying tribute to Ms Loffredo in an obituary, her family and friends said: ‘Nikki had a huge heart, was very kind and compassionate, and was always willing to help anyone in need.’

She was a mum to a daughter named Gia Marie and had two nephews whom she ‘loved to spoil’, it said.

Her housemate and friend, Austin Collins, told local CBS affiliate, KCCI, that Loffredo was a ‘good loving-hearted person.’ 

‘What was done was wrong,’ he added. ‘It took a life that shouldn’t have been taken.’

Johnson is due to be sentenced on June 20.

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