NKyTribune staff
Damondre Williams was sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing one man and seriously injuring another in Covington in August, 2017.
Williams
A jury in the Kenton Circuit Courtroom of Judge Gregory Bartlett deliberated for just three hours July 20, before finding Williams guilty of 1st Degree Manslaughter and Attempted Murder.
One week later, the jury recommended sentences of 20 years for 1st Degree Manslaughter and 15 years for Attempted Murder, to be served consecutively for a total of 35 years.
Williams must serve 20 years before being parole eligible.
Kenton Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders issued the following statement regarding the events that led to the guilty verdict:
On August 1, 2017, Marcus Broaddus went to the 300 block of East 13th Street to meet with friends.
He found numerous men he was familiar with hanging out in and around the street and there was talk of playing dice. One man, Damondre Williams, was someone Broaddus had an ongoing problem with concerning a disputed debt from a past dice game.
As tensions escalated, Broaddus called his adult son, Antonio Bandy, who arrived a short time later with a friend, Wakeem Pouncy-Allen, who stopped their car in the middle of the street and exited armed with a handgun. Other men intervened and tensions appeared to subside.
Pouncy handed the gun off to Bandy, who tucked it in his waistband, and Pouncy went to move the car to a parking space. Multiple witnesses would later tell police that at this point they thought the beef was “squashed” though everyone was still milling about.
When Bandy turned his back, however, Williams drew a gun from the back of his pants and ran around to other men before shooting Bandy in the back of the head. As Bandy fell, Williams then turned his gun on Broaddus, firing four times as he chased Broaddus into the street. Broaddus finally collapsed into the street.
Williams, who had to jump around Broaddus to keep from tripping over him, reached back and fired one final shot into Broaddus’s face before fleeing the scene North on Wheeler Street.
Sanders
Covington Police were already en route to the scene after a nearby resident reported Pouncy waving the gun around. Officers arrived seconds after Williams fled and found Bandy and Broaddus still lying on the ground. Both men were transported to UC Medical Center. Bandy was dead on arrival from a single gunshot wound to the head. Broaddus underwent numerous surgeries and spent two weeks in the ICU but miraculously, lived.
Covington Police Department’s entire criminal investigations unit responded.
Most witnesses from what had been a crowded street either fled the area or insisted they did not see the shooting. Veteran police Detectives Corey Warner and Eric Higgins began interviewing the few cooperative witnesses. They also discovered the shootings had been captured on home security video from a nearby private residence. Another camera installed by a federal law enforcement agency also capture some of the incident, albeit from a block away.
Over the next days and weeks, the detectives pieced together statements from various witnesses to identify Williams as a suspect, however, it was not until Broaddus was brought out of a medically induced coma that anyone directly identified Williams as the shooter. Broaddus, on the other hand, had no doubt who he saw shoot him in the face after gunning down his son.
A warrant was obtained for Williams’ arrest charging Murder and Attempted Murder. Over four weeks after the shooting, Williams was located in Cincinnati, Ohio and arrested. Detectives Warner and Higgins went to interview Williams at Cincinnati Police Homicide Division offices.
For over two hours, Williams insisted he wasn’t even in Covington on the day of the shooting. Williams told the officers unless they could show him video of him shooting someone, they could never prove he was there. Little did he know the investigators did, in fact, have two videos of him firing the gun.
Eventually, after the detectives gave Williams enough details of the events, he owned up to shooting Bandy and Broaddus, claiming self defense, but also manufacturing details the detectives knew to be lies.
Williams claimed, among other things, he was surrounded by other men and Bandy had his gun out. Williams claim he shot Bandy once in the chest from a distance and Broaddus in the chest, once or twice, just so he had an avenue to run for his life.
Williams was indicted for Murder and Attempted Murder. The case was called for trial before Kenton Circuit Judge Gregory Bartlett on July 17, 2018.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders and Asst. Commonwealth’s Attorney Joseph Hill presented testimony from Higgins, Capt. Brian Valenti, Officer Josh Denny, Detective David Hoyle, Broaddus, Dr. Jason Schrager from UCMC, and Dr. Karen Looman from the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office. The defense called two of Williams’ friends who claimed Broaddus was the aggressor as well as Williams himself who claimed he was afraid he was about to be robbed. On cross-examination by the Commonwelth’s Attorney, however, Williams admitted Bandy did not have a gun drawn and did not pose a threat when his back was turned.
After three hours of deliberations on July 20, 2018, the jury returned verdicts finding Williams guilty of 1st Degree Manslaughter and Attempted Murder. After a sentencing phase the following week, the same jury deliberated for four hours before returning sentences of 20 years for 1st Degree Manslaughter and 15 years for Attempted Murder, to be served consecutively for a total of 35 years. Williams must serve 20 years before being parole eligible. Final sentencing is scheduled for September 24, 2018.
Sanders applauded the jury’s verdict and sentences,
“Hopefully everyone in Covington takes note this senseless violence will not be tolerated.” Sanders said, “There are lots of good folks on the Eastside who deserve better than their neighborhood being shot up and bodies in the street.”
Sanders said police and prosecutors will continue to pursue violent offenders no matter who their victims may be.
Sanders also used the occasion to call on witnesses to the murder of 24 year old Lazuri Collins to come forward and put her killer behind bars.
“Many of the same people who witnessed this shooting also saw who killed Lazuri,” said Sanders. “A young mother was gunned down and it’s time her killer was brought to justice.”
Collins was shot and killed in the same block of East 13th Street just three days prior to the shootings of Bandy and Broaddus. Her murder is still unsolved due to lack of witness cooperation, despite numerous persons being present when the shots were fired.
