Jury finds Milwaukee man guilty of killing 19-year-old Navy sailor in West Allis
A jury has found a Milwaukee man guilty of killing a 19-year-old Navy sailor in West Allis.
Derrick Williams, 38, was found guilty Friday of first-degree intentional homicide by use of a dangerous weapon in the 2022 shooting death of Phoenix Castanon of Arizona.
The jury returned the verdict one day after starting deliberations and on the fifth day of the trial in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Williams was arrested on July 20, 2022, by West Allis Police Department detectives and SWAT personnel in connection to the shooting, according to the West Allis Police Department. He was the only suspect in the shooting.
He was charged with the crime three days later.
Castanon was found with a single gunshot wound on May 8, 2022, at 2:41 a.m. near South 84th and West Becher streets, according to the West Allis Police Department. Despite life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
With the conviction, Williams faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
According to the criminal complaint:
A woman who was with Castanon and his fiancée earlier in the evening was walking home in the early hours of May 8, 2022, when an SUV driven by a man later identified as Williams pulled up next to her near the 1900 block of South 84th Street.
Williams asked her to get in the vehicle. When she refused, Williams got out of the SUV and tried to grab her. The woman then ran toward her house where Castanon and his fiancée were parked waiting for her.
While the woman ran toward her residence, Castanon and his fiancée pulled up in their SUV near South 84th Street and West Becher Street and the woman got in the vehicle.
Castanon then drove north on South 84th Street toward the 1900 block to confront Williams. Williams and Castanon exchanged words when the woman heard Castanon say, "I don't have a gun. Don't shoot."
The woman then heard a single gunshot come from Williams' SUV. Williams then left the area.
Both women told police they didn't know who the suspect was.
Identification of the vehicle and the arrest of Williams
Investigators checked with local businesses and residences for video surveillance from around the time of the homicide.
The SUV connected to the crime, later determined to be a red GMC Acadia registered to Williams, was captured leaving the area of the crime just after the time of the shooting.
Authorities got additional evidence after Williams was stopped by Milwaukee police for a separate incident three weeks later, on May 29, 2022, when police saw a firearm, a muzzle flash and heard a gunshot come from the sunroof of Williams' SUV.
Following the May 29 traffic stop, investigators obtained Williams' phone records and received statements from his employer and his mother.
Authorities also determined, with results from the State Crime Lab, that the gun used in the May 29 incident was the same one used in the fatal shooting.
Cellular phone records also put Williams in the area of the fatal shooting at the time it took place.
When questioned by police, Williams admitted to purchasing a weapon but denied shooting anyone.
Police also spoke to Williams' mother, who consented to having her phone records searched. When authorities asked her about calls she received in the early hours of May 8, 2022, she told police they were from Williams and said he was crying and telling her he had accidentally shot someone.
Williams is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 1.
Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee man found guilty in West Allis murder of Navy sailor
