PA - Robert Braxton, 27, fatally shot in Montgomeryville church, 24 April 2016

Rejecting his claim of self-defense, a Montgomery County jury determined a Lansdale man had no legal justification to fatally shoot a fellow parishioner during a disturbance at a Montgomery Township church.

Mark T. Storms, 46, of the 1000 block of Lakeview Drive, Lansdale, showed no emotion as a jury convicted him Thursday of charges of voluntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering other persons in connection with the 11:24 a.m. April 24 fatal shooting of Robert E. Braxton III, 27, of Lower Gwynedd, who was unarmed, inside Keystone Fellowship Church in the 400 block of Stump Road.

Judge Gary S. Silow immediately revoked Storms’ bail. Storms, who faces a possible maximum sentence of 11 to 22 years in prison on the charges, will be sentenced at a later date.

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“I feel justice has been done, but it’s not closure, because my son’s not here. The jury made the right decision,” Braxton’s father, Robert Jr., said. “My son was upset, and you know what he did? He went to his Father’s house for some type of comfort. My son needed God’s grace and God’s love and God’s compassion, not the end of a 9 mm gun. We’ve seen what happens when people take matters into their own hands, unjustly, unlawfully.”

Braxton’s friends and relatives came to court wearing purple, Braxton’s favorite color, and some wore T-shirts embossed with his photo.

“Purple was his favorite color, and I’m glad that purple means victory, victory in Jesus,” the elder Braxton, accompanied by his wife, Hilda, said as numerous supporters uttered “Amen” in unison.

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Hilda Braxton was at the Jersey Shore with her husband on a Sunday morning when she received a phone call from her sister. Her 27-year-old son, her sister told her, had been shot.

"I said, 'That's impossible, Robbie's at church,' " Braxton recalled saying.

Robert Braxton III had been shot and and killed while attending Sunday services at Keystone Fellowship Church in Montgomery Township.

His grieving mother sobbed on the witness stand of a packed Montgomery County courtroom Tuesday, as her son's shooter, Mark Storms, 46, of Lansdale, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years state prison and two years' probation.

Judge Gary S. Silow handed down the sentence after more than two hours of emotional testimony and arguments in a packed courtroom.

"Do you see yourself as some type of hero who injects himself into certain situations?" the judge asked him before pronouncing sentence. "There was no justification whatsoever for you to intercede."

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A judge has refused to reconsider a 10- to 20-years prison sentence for a man who fatally shot another churchgoer during Sunday services in a Philadelphia suburb

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