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The mother of the Gaithersburg woman shot and killed in a random attack outside her apartment in April said she was grateful that friends of the murderer told police what transpired the night her daughter died.

"I'm just thankful that everybody saw in their heart the right thing to do," Deb Harvey said Tuesday, after Shawn M. Henderson was found guilty of killing her daughter, Lindsay Marie Harvey, 25. She said she was happy that Henderson's loved ones and acquaintances testified against him.

"I couldn't ask for anything more," said Harvey, of Oneonta, N.Y., while standing outside the courtroom in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Henderson, 26, of Landover cried as the verdict was announced that the six men and six women of the jury had found him guilty of first-degree felony murder, second-degree murder with intent to kill, armed robbery and use of a handgun in commission of a crime and acquitted him of first-degree premeditated murder. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole, plus 20 years. Sentencing is scheduled for May.

The verdict comes after a week-long trial that brought testimony from Henderson's girlfriend, uncle and friends. His attorneys sought to pin the crime on Henderson's cousin, Aaron Shepherd, 20, of Gaithersburg who was found guilty last month of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and acquitted of armed robbery and murder.

"We're very disappointed," said attorney Audrey Creighton, who refused to comment on a possible appeal until after sentencing.

Harvey was shot once in the head and died instantly, Assistant State Medical Examiner Ana Rubio testified on Thursday. Soot found on Harvey's skull showed that the gun had been placed behind her left ear, Rubio testified.

"He needed money and he was going to get it. And he made that clear to everyone that he talked to," said Montgomery County Assistant State's Attorney Sherri Koch in her closing argument Thursday. "For $40, he murdered Lindsay Marie Harvey."

Koch cited testimony that Henderson loaded and unloaded a .40-caliber, semi-automatic handgun the night of April 12 and asked six young men if they needed someone robbed.

She pointed to testimony from Anthony Moore, 16, of Gaithersburg, who faces trial in the same case next month. Moore testified that Henderson said he wanted to shoot someone, preferably a police officer. He said he saw Henderson walk by a woman leaving her car and circle back. He heard the woman scream and then heard a gunshot.

Moore also testified that Henderson had threatened him and his family. Henderson's uncle and live-in girlfriend testified that Henderson admitted to the killing.

"You know that girl, she didn't make it," Henderson's uncle, David Shepherd said he told his nephew on April 13 before anonymously calling police. "I didn't mean for her not to make it," Shepherd said Henderson replied.

Shepherd, who is Aaron Shepherd's father, said that early evening April 12, Henderson had asked him for money and when David Shepherd said he didn't have it, Henderson flashed his gun and said, "I guess I got to do what I got to do."

Ashley Spriggs, Henderson's live-in girlfriend, said that Henderson told her he and his cousin tried to rob "a lady coming out of her car…He told her to shut up and then she got loose and ran over to the Dumpster and he shot her in the back of the head….'All I got was $40,'" she said Henderson said.

In his closing argument, Henderson's attorney Brian Shefferman said that Henderson was "an outsider" and that Moore and others who saw him that night were covering for Shepherd. He said that Spriggs cooperated with police and prosecutors to prevent being accused of conspiracy and losing her child. He said that Moore was "playing the victim."

When a forensics expert said DNA found on a disassembled gun hidden in Henderson's apartment could be matched to Henderson, but not the co-defendants, Shefferman cast doubt on the quality of the evidence.

The defense, which called for a mistrial last week after Moore said Henderson threatened to kill him and his family, twice called for an acquittal on Thursday, saying that prosecutors had not brought enough evidence. The motions were denied. Moore's testimony about the threat was considered by the jury and can be used at Henderson's sentencing.

Jurors spent Friday deliberating and sent out questions showing they were grappling with possible charges following a push by the defense to show Henderson's high level of intoxication and prove that he had no intent in the killing.

Henderson's mother, Donna Henderson of Gaithersburg declined to comment. Her sister, Toni Shepherd, who is Aaron's mother and David's wife, said last month that the families are not speaking.

The trial has taken a visible toll on Harvey's family. Harvey's mother said Thursday that a guilty verdict would not make her feel better – it would be "the end of another step in the process."

Harvey's uncle, Donald Lynd, also of Oneonta said that hearing what happened the night his niece died has been "devastating." He had not read newspaper accounts, he said.