As the panorama of violence in the city expands - in the past few months we've seen a disturbing number of shootings - homicides included - which involve older men and children who are not active in gangs and have no part in anyone's beef. They are collateral damage in escalating street warfare where the gun violence is becoming increasingly indiscriminate.
That indiscriminate gunfire may be what claimed the life of 51 year old Frank Williams. Monica Bodden found out more about his murder today:..
Monica Bodden reporting
51 year old Steve Williams was shot and killed here at the corner of Iguana Extension and Elston Ker Street.
His lifeless body lay face down on top of his red mountain bike -, partially inside this drain.
He received gunshot wounds to his body with a fatal shot to his head.
The incident happened at around 11:20 on Friday night. Williams' family told us, he was in the neighborhood running an errand for a friend.
Voice of: Crystal Casimiro - Stepdaughter
"I saw him Saturday early in the morning. Some of our family members - because he hangs out on the back street. They saw him at the shop, but I was inside with my baby; I was sleeping. When I heard the knocking on my door, I was surprised because this is not
something that we expected any at all. He went out for a friend. He went out for this guy that lives right around the lane. And seriously, we never expected this at all. He is not a man that bothers anybody. You always see these things on TV, but you never know how it feels until it happens to you."
Marion Ali - Love News
"I understand that this is what he did for a living, run errands for people."
Voice of: Crystal Casimiro
"Yes that's what he does. He does a little hustling, but he wasn't a trouble person. He never got into any altercations with anybody. No one from around here can ever say that they got into a fight with Steve."
Marion Ali - Love News
"What do you think happened to him? Do you think that someone used him to do their dirty work, to run some errand for some..."
Voice of: Crystal Casimiro
"No, the person - he went to do something for somebody who sells food. It wasn't any drugs or gun errand because he is not that kind of person."
According to police, Williams was riding his bicycle on Elston Kerr Street and as he turned into Iguana Extension, several shots were fired at him. Neighbors say, they did hear the shots, but saw nothing.
Voice of: Crystal Casimiro
"I don't know how many times they shot him, but yes, they shot him and left him right there. And the understand that we got is that he got shot from behind."
Williams's family believes that he was innocently murdered and his death may have been used to send across a message to the men he used to socialize with- from around his neighborhood.
Voice of: Crystal Casimiro
"He went out to run a little errand, and with all the violence, killing, and gangs, everybody knows that he hangs out on the back street, so the only thing that we can say is that they killed him to make an example. That's the only reason we think, to send a message to the other guys that hang around here because he is no drug dealer, gunman, or any street man like that. Those things aren't fair; I have my sister who is supposed to graduate in the next few weeks. So now, my sister has to live with this, and she was very close to her dad. They took away an innocent man. Yes, they may have seen him on the street, and thought that he had no one who cared about him, but yes, he has people that care about him and love him."
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