TACOMA, WA – Today, Billy Gene Williamson, 23, was sentenced to 24 and one-half years in prison for the murder of a 15-year-old boy, C.M., in Spanaway this March. Co-defendants Malisha Miranda Morales, 17, and Zachary Alan Glover, 17, were each sentenced to 10 years for their roles in the murder. Deputy Prosecutors James Curtis and Robert Yu represented the State.
“I’m a single mom. My kids are everything to me,” said the victim’s mother in a statement to the court. She asked “Do you know what it’s like to celebrate your son’s 16th birthday without him?”
On March 3, 2017, at about 7:37 p.m., Lakewood police officers responded to reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers located a 15-year old boy, C.M., who had been shot in the head. He later died from his injuries. The victim was not the intended target.
"Williamson brought a gun to a fistfight," said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. "Horrible idea. As a result, the life of a complete innocent was senselessly lost."
Officers located an adult witness, Joshua James, and three minors, who were all with the victim when he was shot and killed. Each reported that they observed a grey or silver car drive slowly by their location and heard a male voice say “aye” before shots were fired from the vehicle.
Officers located multiple shell casings in the area where shots were fired.
Witnesses told investigators that the shooting started with an argument over a girl earlier in the day.
Investigators contacted one of the three minor witnesses with C.M. when he was shot. That witness said that Williamson was dating the witness’s former girlfriend and that he and Williamson had been posting comments back and forth on Facebook about fighting one another. The witness said he sent the defendant the GPS coordinates and invited him to fight.
The witness and his friends were waiting in the stairwell at the Harrison apartments when the girlfriend, co-defendant Morales, texted him to come out and fight. As the car with Williamson, Morales, and Glover rolled by, the victim was hit in the head with a stray bullet.
Williamson pleaded guilty today to murder in the first degree. Morales and Glover both pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree.
For more information, please contact James Lynch at (253) 798-6265, [email protected].