4th Tacoma Homicide of 2022: Demonte Nettles Williams
It was nearing 5:00pm on January 25, 2022. Demonte Nettles Williams, 29, walked out of a motel room in the 8700 block of South Hosmer Street. He approached a Lincoln Town Car in the parking lot. The driver of the car and Demonte got into some sort of argument. Surveillance footage shows Demonte hitting the driver, the driver then fires one shot to Demonte’s chest. A woman steps out of the car. Demonte staggers back and falls. The Lincoln drives away, leaving Demonte Williams dying in the parking lot. Police arrive a short time later, attempt lifesaving procedures on him, but first responders are unable to revive him. Demonte Nettles Williams is the fourth Tacoma homicide of 2022.
Investigators are able to identify the car used in the shooting thanks to a witness who wrote down the license plate and commented that this was not the first time there was trouble with people in that car. The police tracked down the owner of that car, a 44-year-old man with a felony background. They confirmed his cellphone was in the area at the time of the crime, and arrested him for Demonte’s murder.
When detectives talked to the owner of the vehicle he claimed it had been stolen two weeks ago and that he did not report it because he thought the thieves would return it. He also claimed to be stuck in traffic in Fircrest at the time of the murder. (Any local will tell you Fircrest is too small to ever actually have serious traffic.)
Despite the evidence gathered against this man, the eyewitness testimony of his car being at the murder scene, the cellphone data, and whatever other evidence the Pierce County Prosecutor’s office might have in this case, they decided to drop the charges on the 4-year-old man out of fear that they might not be able to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
While the charges in this case have been dropped, the prosecutor can choose to refile if they feel they’ve got more information or evidence to make a successful case.
This is the second homicide on Hosmer in which the prosecutor’s dropped charged in a year. Charges were also dropped in the case of the death of Antonio Robinson when witnesses could not be located.
South Hosmer Street is the most dangerous street in Tacoma. There are multiple homicides on Hosmer every year. An investigation into crime in that area by The News Tribune found that between 2018 and 2021, Tacoma police fielded over 1,000 reports of crimes on Hosmer.
Born in Burgersfort, Mpumalanga, South Africa Demonte Nettles Williams’s family came to Washington State where Demonte went to Franklin Pierce High School. He was the father of four daughters and one son.
I wasn’t able to find out a lot more about Demonte’s life. This is where friends and family can help out. The comment section is reserved for those who knew Demonte and want to share thoughts or memories of him.
- Jack Cameron
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