Homeless man sentenced for assaulting California church elder. Now, he faces murder trial

A man was sentenced Thursday to 32 years in prison for shooting at and pistol-whipping an elderly man who stopped him from breaking into a Northern California church by offering the defendant a job. He’s also accused of murder in San Bernardino County and will now be extradited there, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.

John Waninger, 27, pleaded no contest to assault with the use of a deadly weapon, attempted carjacking, making criminal threats and commercial burglary for trying to steal sound equipment and tools from the Pioneer Union Church in Gold Run, prosecutors said in a news release. The incident happened in June 2021.

The victim approached Waninger, who said he was homeless and needed money. He took a picture of the suspect, and offered to pay him for doing yard work, the news release said. That’s when prosecutors say Waninger hit the victim’s jaw with a gun and then fired one bullet through the elderly man’s hat.

“What was particularly heinous about this crime,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Shannon Quigley, who tried the case, “was that the defendant met the victim’s compassion and empathy with contempt and violence.”

Waninger fled the scene on a push scooter towards Interstate 80 and a search ensued, said the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities found him hours later in nearby Dutch Flat.

It was discovered that Waninger was wanted in connection with a June 2021 homicide in San Bernardino County. He’s accused in the shooting death of a man named Travis Payment, 34, found dead outside his trailer, according to the Victorville Daily Press.

Payment’s girlfriend was pregnant with his child when he was killed, the Daily Press reported.