Liberian Man Fatally Shot In Ewing, New Jersey
August 4, 2015
Ewing NJ: A seemingly quiet neighborhood was jolted by gunfire Sunday night.
Township resident Dohama M. Williams, 68, was fatally shot in the 200 block of Greenland Avenue around 9 p.m. Sunday. Police found the man lying on the ground in front of a residence suffering from a gunshot wound. Williams died at Capital Health Regional Medical Center early the next day.
On Monday morning, the sounds of birds chirping and lawnmowers filled the air of the neighborhood. If it wasn’t for the police cars and crime scene tape, one would think that it was a quiet place to live. But a man who has lived in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred for about 20 years said “appearances can be deceiving.”
“Anything can happen in this neighborhood,” the man who asked to remain anonymous said. “I moved in here about 20 years ago and it was real quiet. Then the older people entered nursing homes or died, and a whole new crowd of drug and alcohol abusers moved in. Don’t leave your doors open or your car unlocked, they’ll get in it; I’ve caught quite a few of them.”
In addition to other thefts, the man said he’s had four lawnmowers stolen from his yard in the past five years. He said he knows who stole one of his lawnmowers, but when he confronted the suspect and threatened to call police, he was told, “You’ve got to see me do it,”
The man said he’s grown tired of the crime, and he’s now planning to sell his house and move out of state.
“I’m selling and I’m leaving,” the man said. “I don’t even care what I get for the house; I want out. Plus, the taxes are high in New Jersey. It’s terrible. Take my advice: go live somewhere else.”
Williams’ family said they have no idea what he may have been doing in that neighborhood. His wife Victoria Johnson said Williams left around 8:30 p.m. Sunday and told her he’d “be right back.”
“Knowing my dad, he was probably trying to help a friend,” his daughter Tuepeai Ortiz said. “My dad wasn’t involved in anything illegal. It would take him two days just to drink one beer.”
Ortiz said she was in Philadelphia celebrating her birthday Sunday night when she received a call reporting that her father was in the hospital. The family initially thought Williams was hospitalized for medical reasons because he suffered a mild stroke last year, Ortiz said. But when they arrived at the hospital, the family was told that he had been shot, and that a ventilator was helping him breathe. He didn’t have a pulse, the family said.
“The nurse said they wanted to give us an opportunity to see him,” his daughter Jainja Williams said with tears streaming down her face. “Nobody deserves to die, but he certainly didn’t deserve to die like that. He cared about people and was a father to everyone. I ran track in high school, and I don’t think there was an athlete on the team who didn’t call him dad.”
Williams and his wife are from Liberia and they moved to the United States nearly five decades ago. The two have been married for 45 years, his family said. Williams moved to the U.S. to attend school, and he was a talented electrical mechanic. Ortiz said she used to disassemble clocks and VCRs as a child, and she and her dad would then teach themselves how the unit operated and put it back together. Williams also enjoyed fixing cars, his family said, and when his children were younger, he built their bicycles from scratch.
“My father came to this country to make a better life for himself,” Ortiz said. “He worked very hard and cared so much about everybody. He was an awesome man. He had a smile that could light up a room, and he had a laugh that would make others laugh.”
His family said Williams worked as an electrical mechanic at the Coca Cola plant in Hightstown for about 25 years, and then spent 10 years working as a mechanic for a pharmaceutical company. He retired a little more than a year ago, his family said.
“He was a very hard worker, and it took a lot from me and my sisters to get him to retire,” Ortiz said. “He was a humble person, and he used to say that he’d rather be the poorest man on earth with his family and all the love in the world, than to be the richest man and have nobody.”
Williams is survived by his wife, four children, three grandkids and a lot of other relatives.
No arrests have been made in connection with Williams’ death and the Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the case. Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call police at 609-989-6406. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at 609-278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.
Source: By Penny Ray - The Tretonian
