A Vancouver man was sentenced to 110 months in prison last week for punching a woman who refused his sexual advances at a party and then shooting at her friend’s car as they tried to leave.
Keith A. Williams, 31, pleaded guilty Friday in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He was originally charged with first-degree assault, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Judge Suzan Clark ordered the agreed-upon exceptional sentence of 75 months on the assault charge and 35 months on the firearm charge, to run consecutively.
Williams was barred from having guns due to previous convictions, including domestic violence assault and robbery, according to court records.
Police responded at about 3:30 a.m. July 25, 2020, for an assault involving a weapon in the 4900 block of East 18th Street, according to a Vancouver Police Department news release.
The victim told officers she’d been at the residence for a party, where Williams asked for her phone number and for sex. She said she heard that Williams had been showing off a gun at the party, so she encouraged her friends to leave, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
She and three friends got into a red Saab; she was in the backseat on the passenger’s side when Williams came up and struck her in the face through the open window, causing her nose to bleed, according to the affidavit.
The victim said she recalled hearing at least one gunshot as they drove off, the affidavit says.
A friend in the backseat captured the assault and handed over the recording to police. It showed Williams standing outside of the car, about 10 feet away, and raising the firearm toward the car as it drove off, according to the affidavit.
As Williams leaves the frame of the video, two distinct gunshots can be heard. Officers at the scene spotted a single bullet hole in the rear, quarter panel of the car on its driver’s side. They also recovered two shell casings from around the area where Williams had been standing, according to the affidavit.
