The Shasta County District Attorney’s Office has announced that a jury found Simon Tikue guilty on all counts and special allegations in relation to a double murder in the Oak Run area in 2021 and the robbery of another victim in Redding in 2018.

Tikue was found guilty of 1st Degree Murder, three counts of 2nd Degree Robbery, Kidnapping for Robbery, and more. Redding Police Department officers responded to the Best Buy in Redding on September 29, 2018 after receiving information that Tikue had taken part in a marijuana robbery and kidnapping with a firearm.

Authorities say the victim was zip tied and held at gunpoint. The victim reported that Tikue took his vehicle to a remote location. DNA evidence was retrieved from the zip ties and steering wheel of the victim’s vehicle.

On November 29, 2021, Shasta County Sheriff’s Office deputies found two deceased men with gunshot wounds near two vehicles in Oak Run. The men were later identified as 32-year-old Meba Solomon Getachew and 33-year-old Gunnar Elliot Yeager.

Authorities alleged that the men came to Shasta County from Oregon to sell marijuana to Tikue who robbed and murdered them. DNA evidence was found on a glove at the scene and it matched DNA collected from the 2018 robbery.

Tikue will be sentenced on September 25, 2024 and will face life in prison.