The youngest of three men accused in the shooting of an off-duty police officer who disrupted their armed robbery attempt at a Little Rock restaurant has been sentenced to 30 years for attempted capital murder and other crimes.
Joshua Lamont Williams, 20, pleaded guilty in June to attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery. Under the sentence imposed Monday by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright, he will have to serve 21 years.
Williams' brother, 22-year-old Troy James Williams Jr., was the one who shot officer Shawn Bakr during the January 2016 holdup attempt at the Red Lobster restaurant at Markham Street and Rodney Parham Road.
The older Williams pleaded guilty to the charges in January 2017 in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence that will keep him behind bars until at least July 2040.
Bakr was wounded in the shoulder during a confrontation with the three hooded robbers who entered the restaurant shortly before closing.
One robber put a gun to the manager's head, and the three were taking the restaurant staff to the back of the eatery to get to the safe when they saw Bakr, who was in uniform.
He had been eating dinner in the bar next to the restaurant's foyer. Bakr pulled his gun, but the armed robber fired first. The wounded officer, who was later named Arkansas law officer of the year, chased the men out of the restaurant and shot Joshua Williams in the buttocks.
The then-18-year-old was the first to be captured. Police found him at a home on Cherokee Circle, about an eight-minute walk from the Red Lobster.
Williams was hospitalized for his wounds, but detectives knew he had a brother, so they began looking for him. Officers also searched the Cherokee Circle home. About 20 minutes after police finished the search, officers were called back to the Cherokee Circle house by a neighbor, who reported a man had just hopped a fence in the backyard. Troy Williams was arrested hiding behind a shed in the backyard.
Joshua Williams was on probation at the time of the Red Lobster holdup for a November 2013 felony theft conviction, stemming from the April 2013 armed robbery of the Burger King on South University Avenue.
The manager, Thomas Williams, told police he was working on a company iPad in the restaurant when a man grabbed it and ran. Williams said he chased the robber out of the store but gave up the pursuit when the man pointed a gun at him. Surveillance video led police to Williams.
The brothers' father, also named Troy Williams, was killed at age 28 in February 2003, along with his brother, 23-year-old Phillip Williams, when they tried to rob an Asher Avenue gas station at gunpoint.
The station owner was able to take Troy Williams' pistol and shoot him with it while the owner's grandson chased down Phillip Williams, who had been armed with a rifle, and shot him.
The third man in the Red Lobster holdup was the Williamses' cousin, 28-year-old Kenneth Lavell "Bam Bam" Nelson Jr. of Little Rock. He pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in October in exchange for a 15-year term. Nelson will qualify for parole in February 2025.
The second robbery count is for stealing the car keys and cash of another man, 27-year-old Darius Greenlaw, after beating him on Nov. 28, 2015, at 4812 W. 14th St. in Little Rock. The men had been gambling at the residence and had gotten into a fight.
Witnesses told police that Nelson had clubbed Greenlaw with a gun, and officers found a loaded weapon behind a bush next to the house.
Greenlaw told police that Nelson had gone through his pockets after beating him and stolen his car keys and $100. Nelson had Greenlaw's identification card, a set of car keys and $102 when police searched him.
Metro on 09/01/2018