Fulton County prosecutors on Friday dropped an aggravated assault charge against a Mechanicsville pastor who shot a teenager on an Atlanta street, Channel 2 Action News reports.
Rev. Alex Williams, pastor of the Mechanicsville United Church of God in Christ on McDaniel Street, was arrested and charged May 7 with shooting a 13-year-old boy who was with a group of youths throwing rocks.
The youth sustained a bullet wound to his hip and was taken to a hospital in stable condition, and police arrested the clergyman.
After a Friday morning court hearing where Williams learned the charge was being dropped, the pastor told Channel 2 that he was thanking the Lord.
Asked if he would open fire if confronted again, Williams said, “Yes. I don’t have no choice if I want to live, 'cause I could have been dead.”
One of the youths, Williams said, was “reaching to get his gun out, and I went on and fired.”
Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. said an investigation determined that a group of boys were throwing rocks at Williams, his van and the pastor's church building, and “at least one of those young men had a gun in his possession.”
“We have been unable to determine whether the weapon was a real gun or a BB gun, but we have located witnesses who saw the group leaving the scene immediately following the incident with that firearm in tow," Howard said in a prepared statement issued Friday afternoon.
Residents told investigators that the boys have been “a constant source of disruption” in the neighborhood, Howard said.
“We have also learned that the young man who was shot during this incident is now in custody himself,” the prosecutor said. “Based upon the charges against him, we deemed his credibility as a witness to be further diminished. Thus, the charges against Alex Williams have been withdrawn and we will not move forward with prosecution.”
More information about the youth and why he was arrested was not immediately available.
Williams runs the church out of his home, which his daughter Yvonne Williams said was damaged by a suspicious fire earlier this year. The pastor also has experienced numerous burglaries to his home, the woman told the AJC in an interview shortly after the shooting incident.
On Friday, Williams told Channel 2 that he’s still being threatened, but he’s lived in the community for 40 years and isn’t going anywhere.
“I say enough is enough,” he said.
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