Posted on 03/23/2015 5:41:55 PM PDT by kristinn
A confidential informant wearing a hidden video camera recorded accused gunman Jeffrey L. Williams admitting that he fired the shots that seriously wounded two police officers during a recent demonstration in Ferguson, Mo., according to search warrants obtained by Yahoo News.
Williams was arrested March 15 and charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action. An officer from the St. Louis County Police Department was struck in the shoulder. A member of the nearby Webster Groves Police Department was hit below his right eye. Both are now recovering at home.
At a news conference announcing the arrest, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said that Williams’ confession was key to bringing the charges but declined to give details of how the admission was obtained.
Jerryl T. Christmas, Williams’ attorney, told Yahoo News last week that his client said “he never fired a weapon” and was recanting his confession. Christmas claimed that officers pistol-whipped Williams during the arrest, allegations the St. Louis County Police called false.
SNIP
But detectives caught a break when the informant stepped forward March 14. The source was outfitted with a hidden camera and sent to the apartment of Williams’ girlfriend. According to the affidavit, Williams went outside and got into the front passenger seat of a car driven by the informant
The pair drove throughout North St. Louis County while discussing the shooting. They ultimately went to Ferguson and the location where the shots were fired.
“The suspect then told the [confidential source] that he discharged a handgun at unknown individual(s) from an area which was consistent with the location of the fired cartridge casings,” the affidavit alleges.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
why is old slippery Al opposed to Saltine Crackers? ? ??
lol
Pistol whipping makes serious marks, not those little boo boos.
D’OH!
Sorta blows that “they beat the confession out of him” claim, huh?
These sound like very light charges for shooting two policemen. I suspect prosecutorial political correctness and cowardice.
Jerryl T. Christmas...He no bueno.
Waiting for the next alibi.
I’m trying to imagine Williams being so stupid he decided to go to a place full of cops to shoot somebody he had a beef with.
No es bueno, but that white suit and matching megaphone of his es muy cool.
My attorney has a megaphone too.
The charges are consistent with what he’s alleged to have done. The first degree assault charges combined with the armed criminal action add up to assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer.
With recent priors, what sentence in MO does that rate?
I thought they found a video of him being beaten down by a large Black man earlier in the evening...
The shooter was some distance away from the officers. Was he shooting at the officers or did his shots miss a closer target and strike the officers in the distance?
Same charge either way.
I am sure the charges are consistent with the facts. But if a white man fired a handgun and the bullets struck two policemen, chances are that he would be charged with attempted murder. It’s darn hard to hit anything with a handgun at a long distance and it’s quite a coincidence that he happened to hit two police officers.
There’s no such charge as attempted murder in the Missouri criminal code.
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