Photo by RISS311

The man who killed a beloved H Street Corridor deli owner last June was sentenced to 27 years in prison Friday.

Steven Williams, 47, of Washington pleaded guilty in April to murdering Hae Soon Lim — better known as June Lim, the owner of Grace Deli on the corner of Seventh and H Streets NE. Lim was approached by Williams as she attempted to open the store and was shot once in the neck. Williams had previously been to the store and met Lim, according to a release from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Williams was tied to the scene through DNA evidence and video surveillance. At his sentencing hearing, Williams said he took “full responsibility” for the crime, according to Homicide Watch. “I make no excuses; I am truly sorry for all the pain I have caused everybody.”

Lim’s son Peter Lim, who asked those who knew his mother to write victim impact statements, lamented at the sentencing that his mother will never know her grandson. He also said that, through the “tragedy,” he came to know his mother was not just a “really good person” but a “great person.”

“With a single gunshot, this career criminal senselessly executed a beloved deli owner,” Ron Machen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a prepared statement. “Thankfully, DNA allowed us to connect this killer to the crime scene, driving him to accept responsibility for his brutal crime. We can only hope that this lengthy prison sentence brings some measure of comfort to Ms. Lim’s family and others who loved her.”