His mother turned him in, fearing that more gunshots would be exchanged if she didn’t. And she called an Atlanta news station, too, so it would be documented, she said.
It was peaceful when the 26-year-old accused of starting a shootout that injured an Atlanta officer and another man was located Wednesday at the West Lake MARTA station, according to police.
“She made his apprehension as safe as possible, which is the outcome that we all wanted,” Lt. Ricardo Vazquez with Atlanta police told Channel 2 Action News.
The FBI and U.S. Marshals assisted police with the arrest of Williams shortly before noon. Williams has been charged with aggravated assault against a police officer.
Lawanda Williams led investigators to her son, Anthony Bernard Williams, who had been on the run since early Monday. She wiped away his tears, gave him a kiss and said a prayer before he was led away from the train station.
“I pray he changes his life around,” Lawanda Williams said. “I pray this lesson right here is the last one that he’ll have to learn cause this is going to cost him.”
From the MARTA station, Anthony Williams was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment of his own injuries, gunshot wounds to his leg and buttocks.
Shortly after 2 a.m. Monday, Williams was a passenger in a vehicle that police stopped in the 3300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Atlanta’s west side. Officers were dispatched after receiving a call about a possible carjacking, police previously said.
The driver got out of the vehicle and ran toward police, authorities previously said. Meanwhile, Williams got out and shot the driver several times, then began shooting at police, hitting an officer twice in the arm, Pickard said during a news conference Tuesday.
An officer returned fire, but Williams was able to jump back into the vehicle and flee the scene, police said. He later dumped the car about a mile away, on Fairburn Road, and escaped on foot, police said.
Lawanda Williams said someone called her and told her it was her son involved in the incident, Channel 2 reported. Her son also called to tell her he had been shot. Lawanda Williams then called police.
Authorities on Tuesday said the incident was not a carjacking and that the victim and Williams are acquaintances.
The victim, who was shot in the arms and legs, was taken to Grady in stable condition. The officer’s arm injuries were minor, and he was treated and released, police said.
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