Oklahoma City pharmacist Jerome Ersland gets life in prison for killing would-be robber

(CBS/AP) OKLAHOMA CITY - An Oklahoma City pharmacist was sentenced Monday to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the shooting death of a 16-year-old who tried to rob the store where he worked.

A jury convicted 59-year-old Jerome Ersland in May of first-degree murder in the May 2009 shooting of 16-year-old Antwum Parker.

Confronted by two holdup men, Ersland pulled out a gun, shot one of them, Parker, in the head and chased the other away. The drugstore's security camera then filmed Ersland as he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded Parker as he lay on the floor.

The conviction of Ersland, who many had hailed as a hero for protecting two fellow employees, reportedly stunned the courtroom.

As Ersland left the courtroom Monday he told a reporter the sentence is "an injustice of a monumental proportion."

Defense attorney Irven Box said the conviction and sentence will be appealed.

After Ersland was sentenced, the judge also sentenced two accomplices in the robbery attempt to life in prison with the possibility of parole.  Emanuel Mitchell and Anthony Morrison were previously convicted of first-degree murder under an Oklahoma law that allowing charges if an accomplice dies during a crime.