A man convicted of fatally stabbing his grandchildren’s uncle outside a Bellflower apartment complex was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in state prison.

Jurors found Jeffery Ardonal Johnson, now 64, guilty in June 2019 of first-degree murder for the Jan. 27, 2018, attack on Anthony Maurice Elston. The jury also found true an allegation that the Bellflower resident personally used a knife in the commission of the crime.

Johnson and the 24-year-old victim knew each other because Elston’s sister had children with Johnson’s son and was moving into the same apartment complex as Johnson, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Johnson armed himself with a kitchen knife following a brief encounter with the victim at Elston’s sister’s apartment, according to prosecutors.

A fight subsequently broke out between Johnson’s son and Elston’s sister in the parking garage of the apartment complex. During the brawl, Johnson approached Elston and stabbed him once in the abdomen before leaving the parking garage, prosecutors said. He returned almost two hours later and surrendered to law enforcement.

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