William Patrick Williams is a 19 year old man from Lubbock Texas. In July, he bought an AK-47 that he planned to use to shoot up a hotel, killing others until he killed himself, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Norther District of Texas. Instead, Williams called his grandmother from the hotel. Grandma intervened.
She was able to persuade the young man to hold off until talking to her. Then, she persuaded him to allow her to take him to the hospital, where she signed off on committing him as a danger to himself and others.
This was no cry for help. Per NBC News:
When police searched his hotel room the hotel room Williams had rented, they found the weapon he had told his grandmother he possessed, along with 17 loaded magazines, and multiple knives. They also found black tactical pants, a black trench coat and a black T-shirt that read “Let ‘Em Come.”
“This was a tragedy averted,” said U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox. “I want to praise the defendant’s grandmother, who saved lives by interrupting this plot.”
Let us all praise a true hero, grandma.
I have little doubt that any one of the families of this weekends shooters would have done the same thing in her position, but that does not take away from what she did.
Apparently, Williams was not truthful in his application for the guns.
After looking into the forms Williams filled out to purchase the weapon, police said he appeared to list false information on the forms and allegedly misrepresented his address. On Thursday, he was arrested by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI for making false statements to a firearms dealer.
Making false statements to a firearms dealer might well warrant more than five years in some circumstances, though I am not sure that a judge should impose prison time in this case.
IAAAL (I actually am a lawyer) and I have dealt with criminals from both sides. The U.S. Attorney’s office was right to charge the crime. They need to enforce this law.
However, given the attendant circumstances, the mental illness and the intervention by family, I would be very hesitant as a judge to impose serving actual prison time. No question, he should be “sentenced” to five years prison time, but I would suspend all of it.
Hear me out.
First consideration is the obvious poor mental health situation. We in this nation do not criminalize mental illness. The El Paso shooter gave himself up, he was not suicidal, just filled with rage, something we DO criminalize. This man wanted to die, his manner of suicide brought on the attention, and all intendent circumstances. I might well require him to spend a year in a psychiatric institution, then hold him until cleared by at least two physicians, but I would not send him immediately to prison. Apparently, he retained enough sanity to agree with grandma.
Second, and this is key, we do not want a policy whereby potential mass murderers are afraid to turn themselves in because they do not want to go to prison for multiple years. We want to encourage people to turn themselves in. I favor a policy of a suspended five year sentences provided a person first declares that they were untruthful in their application. If they are caught first, then impose prison.
Third, we do not want a policy whereby a family is reluctant to call because they do not want to see their family member in prison, or fear prison time themselves (for whatever reason), and thus rationalize taking the matter on themselves: “We will take his guns” type of thinking.
We want to encourage and incentivize self or family intervention, dependent upon seeking treatment and completing treatment. That is why I would sentence for five years and then suspend near all of it. A sentence is like money in the bank, the judge can always go back and make a withdrawal if the defendant does not follow through. That is my view anyway. If he decides he is “fine,” but doctors disagree, I have my five years to impose. He is far more likely to stay in the hospital until cleared.
Last, have you not noticed a disturbing pattern of late? These shooters seem “younger.” True, not the man in Las Vegas, nor the man in Pittsburgh, but a disproportionate number have been committed by younger people, especially El Paso, Dayton and Parkland, among many others.
Do you recall being 18-22? It can be a tumultuous period. One can be terrified about learning a life away from home, a failure in relationships, and simple all around immaturity and impulsive thinking. It seems to me that one of the many reforms needed is to raise the requisite purchase age to 25. After all, we do not allow people to sit in congress until 25, in the senate until 30 or become president until age 35. Why don’t we raise the purchasing age? At the least, can’t we require someone over 40 (a parent-figure) co-sign an application, swearing to its veracity, and taking on personal liability should a person lie, or use the gun to kill others?
Of course, I want to ban the purchase of assault weapons altogether, and disallow any one person to purchase a set volume of ammunition. But if we MUST continue down this road, as Republicans often argue, can’t we do something sensible?
Praise God, and praise this grandmother. It seems undeniable that there are 5 to 50 people alive today, unawares, that grandma saved them, too. With all the tragic news of late, I suspect it is a good idea to remind ourselves to have some faith in humanity, and each other.
Remember, always, complete isolation kills. We need other people in our lives. We sometimes need them to step-in and help others by helping us. Interventions apply to more than drug and alcohol abuse. Sometimes it helps – in other situations – to hear, “stop being such a dick.” That intervention can work, too.
We also need to keep removing the stigma of mental illness. I am positive this young man did not choose to become suicidal and homicidal. He may think he chose it, but he did not. He likely dearly wished he didn’t feel that pain that drove him to the edge. We must reach out to people in mental health crises in the exact same way we reach out to people who have cancer. Neither chose their fate, both would appreciate the love and support that can only come from people empathetic enough to step in and say “I will help you, for you and humanity generally.”
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Peace.
Peace in Lubbock and here, y’all.
Jason
This is both reassuring and terrifying.
I understand the “false statement” was using the address of an apt from which he had been evicted, not the one he actually lived at.
Has anybody noticed that almost all of the mass shootings are males? Women don’t do this crap it seems. Perhaps men should not be allowed to have guns until they’re older…say 35-40.
A compassionate take on a tragedy averted.