Greyhound bus shooter’s mom gives tearful testimony as trial’s sanity phase begins
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Anthony Devonte Williams grew up in Maryland a normal, happy child, making friends easily and enjoying his school years, his mother said.
Years later, however, she noticed a change in her son, who last week was found guilty of murder and multiple other crimes for shooting up a Greyhound bus traveling through Kern County.
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“He just wasn’t happy anymore,” Dawn Reese testified Monday as the sanity phase of Williams’ trial began. About five years before the shooting, she said, Williams, who lived with her most of his life, started keeping to himself, spending most of his time in his room and saying he didn’t trust anyone.
Reese struggled at times to keep her composure, crying soon after her testimony began. Williams, 37, wiped at his eyes with a tissue.
If the jury finds Williams was insane at the time of the shooting, he’ll be confined to a mental hospital instead of prison, possibly for life.
The prosecution says Williams was sane when he fired 17 shots early Feb. 3, 2020, as the bus traveled north over the Grapevine. Lurbis Elena Vance, 51, was hit multiple times and died at the scene, and another woman was hit and paralyzed from the chest down. Four others were also struck.
During her cross-examination of Reese, prosecutor Stephanie Taconi elicited testimony Williams managed to travel alone by bus to California and care for himself along the way. He previously held jobs, some for years at a time.
She brought up a potential reason as to why his mother noticed a difference in his behavior.
“That’s about the time he began using marijuana?” Taconi asked Reese.
“That I’m aware of, yes,” Reese said.
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Asked if she knew he’d also been using other drugs, Reese said “no.”
Williams’ grandmother, Geraldine Farmer, also testified. She said Williams called her and said everyone was against him just before getting on the bus on which the shooting occurred.
“I told him, ‘Those people don’t even know you, why would they be against you?'” she said.
Williams made another call to his grandmother after his arrest. He told her not to bother with an attorney, saying he’d meant to shoot one person but hit other people instead.
Deputy Public Defender Nick Roth, one Williams’ attorneys, plans to call three doctors to the stand. He said each of them determined Williams was insane at the time of the shooting. The trial resumes 9 a.m. Tuesday.
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