A teenager accused of shooting at a crowd of people at a McComb apartment complex swimming pool was ordered held without bond Tuesday and will be tried as an adult.
Wilton Williams III, 15, faces charges of aggravated assault, exhibiting a weapon and disturbing the peace. The assault charge is the only felony in connection with the case, and Youth Court Judge David Brewer adjudicated it to circuit court since it involved a deadly weapon.
In addition to the June 4 shooting at Parklane Apartments, Williams faces an armed robbery charge in connection with a Feb. 28 incident in which he and three others allegedly robbed a couple of $1,700 and a car radio at gunpoint and pistol-whipped a man. He’ll be tried as an adult for that, too, Brewer ruled.
“I’m going to tell you so you can tell everybody else: If a child in this county from now until when I’m gone, uses a gun in a crime, I’m going to graduate them to adulthood,” Brewer told Williams. “I’m not going to try to put them in juvenile detention.”
Williams is one of two people who police said opened fire at the apartment’s pool. They said about a dozen people, including one person who was the intended target of the shooting, were in the pool when the gunfire erupted. Police found two bullets in the bottom of the pool.
Video released Monday showed a person who appeared to be Williams and another person exiting the pool area, walking behind the fence and quickly firing off multiple rounds. Police said the shooting involved a dispute among neighborhood gangs and none of the people who were at the pool when it occurred lived at the apartment complex. Another suspect, a 17-year-old who has not been identified because of his age, also is wanted in connection with the shooting, police said.
One of Williams’ relatives lamented outside of court after the hearing that the judge “made an example” of him by trying him as an adult and ordering no bond.
In denying bond, Brewer pointed to Williams’ two separate cases, both involving acts of violence, in such a short period of time. He also noted other instances of violence that Williams was not a party to, including the February 2022 shooting of 6-year-old Oterious Marks and others at a McComb park, which was the flashpoint of an exceptionally violent year in the city.
“I’m tired of adults running around in this community scared,” the judge said. “I still have nightmares of a 6-year-old child getting shot in the park I used to play in as a child on Sunday, and what I’m saying is if you committed these acts, you are the problem and I will do everything in my power, if this is the situation, to protect the citizens of Pike County.
“Having an armed robbery charge from March of this year and having an aggravated assault charge now that involves 15 shots being fired, and the other involving a pistol whipping; the needs of this community outweigh your right to bond.”
However, Brewer said he will reconsider the possibility of bond during Williams’ preliminary hearing, which will be held next Tuesday in county court. Brewer appointed John McNeil to represent Williams.
Police were still looking for Williams, who they had considered armed and dangerous, on Monday and he was taken into custody that evening.
Williams, who wore sandals, ripped bluejeans and an orange T-shirt, along with shackles on his hands and legs, acknowledged in court that he had made threats of suicide after his arrest and was taken to the hospital Monday night.
In denying bond, Brewer said the threat of suicide made Williams a danger to himself, and his history of violent acts made him a a threat to the community as well as a potential flight risk.
“Anybody that shoots 15 rounds at an occupied swimming pool where, if you were there … There were little bitty babies in that swimming pool. There were teenagers,” he said. “I find the mere fact that you fired 15 rounds into a swimming pool to be repetitious. I also find that you’re one of the worst marksmen I’ve ever seen because you weren’t 20 feet from those folks, and thank God you did not hit one of them.”
Brewer let Williams hug his relatives before deputies led him out of the courtroom.
“I hate to see you here, I truly hate to see you here,” the judge told him. “And I wish I could go back in time three months and get you on the right track. I’ve got to do this, and God bless you.”
