Historic District murder suspect dropped daughter off — and went back for shooting, police say

The suspect in Jermaine Williams’ June 18 homicide in the Columbus Historic District had to go drop his 4-year-old daughter off before he could go back and shoot Williams, a detective testified Tuesday.

Cpl. Sherman Hayes testified Demetrius Johnson had the little girl with him in his girlfriend’s black Ford Focus when he first drove up on Williams, who was walking along Third Avenue near Sixth Street.

Johnson got out of the car and talked to Williams, then got back in, circled the block and drove east to the Columbus Commons apartments at 500 Fifth Ave., where he lived with his girlfriend.

There he dropped the girl off, and then drove back across Veterans Parkway to Third Avenue, to find Williams, Hayes said.

“Both of them know each other very well,” the detective said, adding officers discovered the two had been arguing through Facebook messages that day. He did not say what sparked the conflict.

Williams was walking north along Third Avenue’s east side when Johnson returned, stopped in the street between Fifth and Sixth streets and got out with a gun, Hayes said.

At least five witnesses and nearby security cameras caught what happened next, the detective said: Williams tried to run away as Johnson opened fire.

“It’s very apparent in the video that Mr. Williams is running for his life,” Hayes said.

As Johnson fired four or five shots with a semi-automatic pistol, a bullet hit Williams in the upper left leg near his groin, the officer said. Still the 26-year-old kept running, turning west across the avenue and collapsing at Third Avenue and Sixth Street, Hayes said.

He said Williams left a trail of blood that started outside 532 Third Ave. and went north for about 50 feet. Video showed Johnson get back into the Ford when he saw Williams cross the street, Hayes said.

Witnesses called 911 at 3:20 p.m. Police initially responded to Little Joe’s Package Store, 306 Sixth St., before finding Williams nearby.

“He made several statements,” said Hayes, who could not say what Williams told police. “He was speaking, and there were body cameras activated.”

Paramedics took Williams to Piedmont Columbus Regional’s midtown campus, where he was pronounced dead at 3:58 p.m. that day, authorities said.

Witnesses reported the car’s tag number, and two were able to pick Johnson’s picture from a six-photo lineup, identifying him as the shooter, the detective said.

Police traced the tag number, finding the car registered to Johnson’s girlfriend at her Columbus Commons address, Hayes said.

The next day, authorities got a 911 call reporting the Ford was outside the Econo Lodge at 1024 Veterans Parkway, where detectives discovered Johnson had rented a room around the same time officers downtown were investigating the shooting.

Police got a search warrant for the car and for the Columbus Commons apartment, Hayes said, adding that in the car they found clothes matching what videos showed Johnson wearing during the shooting, plus electronics and other items.

In the Columbus Commons apartment, officers found drugs, “drug items,” gun magazines and holsters, he said, but they did not find the gun used to shoot Williams.

Detectives seized both the victim’s cellphone and the suspect’s, he said.

Judge Hunter found probable cause to send Johnson’s case to Muscogee Superior Court, ordering him held without bond.

After Tuesday’s hearing, Williams’ father, John Williams, spoke to reporters outside the courtroom.

“The bottom line is this was an unfortunate incident … and I’m sorry my son got killed,” he said. “What I’m going to do — it’s the only thing to do — is let law enforcement handle this, so that is exactly what I’m going to do. If I had my chance, I’d probably do something, but by me doing something, it would make it worse.”

He’ll put his trust in the district attorney “to make sure that this young man never goes back to the street anymore,” he said. “He killed my baby.”

Asked what sort of person his son was, he said: “He was a good kid. He was no different from any other kid, you know what I mean? He was just young, wild, liked to have a good time. And he’s just like his daddy: He’s made mistakes, but he didn’t make no mistake to get killed like that.”

Johnson was represented Tuesday by Columbus attorney J. Mark Shelnutt, who afterward said he wanted to see all the evidence police claim to have.

He thought it odd that Johnson was alleged to have fired several shots point-blank, yet Williams died from a single wound to the leg. And he wanted to know more about the video recordings, as Hayes testified police could not clearly identify Williams from them.

“All we really heard was there’s some film, and they’ve got cameras evidently all over the place, because there’s a camera supposedly at this apartment, and one over at the motel,” Shelnutt said. “So there’s a lot of investigation I felt that we need to do.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Historic District murder suspect dropped daughter off — and went back for shooting, police say."