Adrian Williams, 22, was sentenced to life in prison for the 2011 brutal slaying of 17-year-old Quinton Brown in a deserted cemetery, reports the Natchez Democrat.
It’s a story of dark twists and turns — and suspicions still linger.
Denzel Fort, Williams and Keldrick Washington spotted the teenager standing on a street corner at approximately 3:00 a.m. They asked him to ride with them to test pistols — including a .357 Smith and Wesson and an EAA .357 revolver — at the historic Natchez City Cemetery.
Washington is also charged with murder; his trial is later this month.
According to Fort’s testimony, he stayed in the vehicle while the other men and Brown went into the cemetery — Williams carrying Fort’s weapon. A few minutes later, he heard gunshots. When all of the men came running back to the vehicle, he noticed that Brown was missing. In response to his nervous query about the teen’s whereabouts, he was told that he was dead. Williams allegedly told his passengers that if they told anyone what had happened, they would both die.
Brown’s body was discovered by a passerby on May 29, 2011. He had been shot 5 times, including in the back and head.
Though it still is not clear what events led to Brown’s murder, Williams claims that he cared about his victim:
“He was like a brother to me,” Williams told the family in court. “I just pray you forgive me.”
Brown’s mother, Terracine Prater, says that she already has:
“I am relieved,” said Prater. “God bless both the families; I am just glad that justice has been served.”
“It’s a tragedy, I don’t understand why it has to be like this,” said Judge Forrest ‘Al’ Johnson. “I look at all of these guns entered into evidence and everyone involved in this case shouldn’t be running around with guns — high caliber guns that are good for nothing but killing someone.”
As previously reported by NewsOne, Gun violence in the Black community — particularly how to clamp down on the flow of weapons allowed to filter in, subsequently raising crime rates and leading to our disproportionate incarceration rates — is high on the wish list that Black citizens would like newly re-elected President Barack Obama to address in his second term. When asked about the issue by MTV’s Sway Calloway leading up to the election, the POTUS had this to say:
“What I know is that gun violence is part of the issue,” he said. “But part of the issue also is kids who feel so little hope and think their prospects for the future are so small that their attitude is, ‘I’m going to end up in jail or dead.’ And they will take all kinds of risks.”
“If they’ve got mental health issues, are they getting the kind of services and counseling that they need early on?” he said.
“Are we making those investments in those young people so that by the time they’re 11, 12, 13, 15 … they can make responsible choices because they feel they’ve got something at stake?”
Clearly, responsible choices weren’t made that fatal night. And a 22 year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until he’s 65 because of it, and another mother is mourning her son.
