A homeless felon shot last year after forcing his way into a residence and pointing a gun at four children pleaded guilty to charges Monday and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Darryl Lavell Williams, 25, who has remained in custody since his arrest Nov. 29, 2018, in lieu of $125,000 bond, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm by certain persons and was sentenced to six years on each count, to run concurrently with each other and the revocation of his probation from previous convictions on felony charges of possession of a controlled substance and theft by receiving.
The more serious charge of aggravated residential burglary, punishable by up to life in prison, was withdrawn by prosecutors as part of the plea deal. Charges of kidnapping and aggravated robbery filed against Williams on Jan. 4 stemming from an unrelated case were later withdrawn "for further investigation."
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 25, 2018, shortly before 9 a.m., Hot Springs police responded to a residence in the 400 block of Alcorn Street regarding a shooting and arrived to find Williams on the floor inside the apartment with a serious gunshot wound.
A resident, 30, who lived there with his girlfriend, 28, stated Williams had entered the residence armed with a rifle and was pointing it at four children, ages 8, 5, 4 and 3, who were asleep in the front living room.
The resident was able to get his shotgun without Williams seeing him and fired one round, striking Williams in the upper chest-neck area while he was still in the living room. Williams fell to the floor and the resident got the rifle away from him. He then got his girlfriend and the children out of the apartment and called police.
While waiting on police to arrive, Williams told the resident he was at the wrong house and he had been sent to collect money owed to another person. Neither the resident, his girlfriend nor another roommate of theirs who was not present at the time of the shooting knew Williams or the person for whom he was reportedly collecting the money.
Williams lost consciousness prior to officers' arrival and was transported by LifeNet to a local hospital in critical condition. A loaded .22-caliber rifle with the buttstock removed was recovered by police in the front room and the resident identified it as the one Williams was armed with when he came in.
Williams was released from the hospital on Nov. 29 and taken into custody. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Feb. 8 and was set to stand trial Dec. 17.
Local on 12/10/2019