Nevertheless, cries for as much punishment as possible surfaced in the community Thursday. Kelso resident Curtis Hart started circulating a petition on Facebook calling on Cowlitz County Prosecutor Ryan Jurvakainen to offer “NO DEALS — NO PLEA BARGAINS” for Williams. It had accrued more than 1,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon.
Jurvakainen said Thursday it’s still too early to discuss what kind of sentence his office might seek against Williams, who has not yet been formally charged in Chapman’s death.
“Law enforcement locally, as well as (near Camas), they’ve been working 24/7 for essentially the last 48 hours,” Jurvakainen said. “No doubt, given the nature of this case, this investigation’s going to be going on for quite some time. … There’s a lot of moving parts going on.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Kelso Police Capt. Darr Kirk said the incident was reported at 4:12 a.m., when a woman called 911, saying she had been shot. When officers arrived several minutes later, they reported finding an unresponsive woman, identified as Chapman, on the floor inside of the store.
“Given her wounds, it was remarkable that she was able to call 911,” Kirk said.
Documents entered into court Thursday morning report that a surveillance camera recorded a masked gunman trying to shoot Chapman, but the gun would not fire. However, after then getting Chapman to turn over cash and cigarettes, he fired again, striking her. She was the only employee in the store at the time, and there were no customers, Kelso police said.
An autopsy Wednesday ruled Chapman’s death a homicide, and found she died from a gunshot wound to the neck and chest.
Police reports said that Williams stole the vehicle Jan. 17 that was used in the Tuesday morning robbery.
Williams had recently finished a 45-day jail sentence after being convicted in November of third-degree theft and first-degree criminal impersonation.
Before that conviction, Williams was sentenced in 14 different cases over six years as a juvenile. Charges have included assaulting a law enforcement officer, possessing a controlled substance, third-degree theft, possessing alcohol as a minor, first-degree robbery, obstructing a law enforcement officer, second-degree burglary, escaping from a detention facility, intimidating school staff, disturbing school activity, possession of marijuana and gross misdemeanor harassment.
In a robbery Williams was arrested for at age 14, police said he forced a male customer into a store cooler by holding a knife to his throat, and demanded money from him and a female customer, according to police records.
Williams was 11 years old when he was arrested for his earliest crime, a conviction of third-degree theft and harassment.
