It was through a secret video recording that law enforcement authorities heard accused shooter Jeffrey L. Williams admit that he fired the bullets that struck two officers in Ferguson earlier this month during a demonstration.
The recording was made by a police confidential informant who rode around the Ferguson streets with Williams in the passenger seat of the informant’s car, according to a report by Yahoo News based on police documents. The two men drove throughout North St. Louis County while discussing the shooting, even ultimately going back to the spot from where the shots were fired.
The confidential informant, who had worked with area police in the past, initially came to the police with information about the possible shooter on March 14. They outfitted him with a hidden camera and he went to the apartment of Williams’ girlfriend, where he met up with Williams.
“The suspect then told the [confidential source] that he discharged a handgun at unknown individual(s) from an area which was consistent with the location of the fired cartridge casings,” the police affidavit alleges.
Williams was charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action.
The shots he is alleged to have fired hit an officer from the St. Louis County Police Department in the shoulder and an officer from nearby Webster Groves Police Department below his right eye. Both are now recovering at home, according to media report.
While St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch had said Williams’ confession was key to bringing the charges, he never gave details.
Williams attorney, St. Louis defense attorney Jerryl T. Christmas, said his client was not the shooter.
“My client reaffirmed to me that he was not the shooter in this case,” Christmas told Yahoo News in an email. “The real perpetrator is still at large and that should be our focus.”
Christmas is the source of the claim last week that officers beat Williams during the arrest, pointing out that there were visible bruises on his face that weren’t there before. The St. Louis County Police denied that allegations.
The information obtained by Yahoo News came from warrants that investigators obtained to Williams’ girlfriend’s apartment and a car that Williams was allegedly driving the night of the shooting.
In an affidavit supporting the warrant, investigators note that their confidential informant “has proven reliable through previous law enforcement investigations.”
Williams was already wanted for violating his probation in an unrelated theft case.
Inside the girlfriends’ apartment, officers found a Hi-Point .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol on the floor in a front bedroom. According to the warrant, investigators also recovered three gun magazines; .40, .38 and .32-caliber bullets; a blue plastic mask; cell phones; and various pieces of clothing.
The Yahoo report said detectives collected DNA and fingerprints from the Pontiac, which is owned by Williams’ girlfriend, who told police Williams was using the car on the night of the shooting.
Williams, who is being held in the St. Louis County jail with bail set at $300,000 bail, has a hearing scheduled for March 31—which is the day after his 21st birthday.
