Nearly a month after officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound on Next Street, Mobile police charged a man already facing unrelated counts with murder in the case.
Joshua Jamar Lamont Kennedy, 21, was accused of one count of murder in the death of George Williams, 23. According to police, Kennedy fatally shot Williams following an argument on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. Williams died of his injuries two days after the attack.
A shooting on Next Street
The events traced back to the afternoon of May 13, when medical technicians transported Williams from the 1400 block of Next Street to the University of South Alabama Medical Center. He had been found in the roadway in front of a home, suffering from at least one gunshot wound to his abdomen. Two days later, he died of those injuries.
Police believed the shooting followed an argument between the two men on Next Street. Investigators developed Kennedy as a suspect over the weeks that followed, ultimately bringing the murder charge against a man who was already in custody on separate allegations.
Already in custody
Officers had apprehended Kennedy on June 3 on charges of possession of a controlled substance and trafficking in marijuana. According to court records, Kennedy also went by the name “Chicken.” The records showed he had faced arrest in Mobile County three other times since 2012, on charges that included possession of a controlled substance, domestic violence and driving without a license.
He remained jailed at the Mobile County Metro Jail on the Tuesday afternoon the murder charge was reported. Kennedy was scheduled to appear before District Court Judge Bob Sherling on July 17 for a preliminary hearing, at which prosecutors would be expected to outline the evidence supporting the case.
Investigators sought the public’s help
The killing was one of several that drew the attention of Mobile investigators that spring and summer, a period in which the department repeatedly asked residents to come forward with information that might help resolve open cases. In the Williams shooting, detectives encouraged anyone with knowledge of the events on Next Street to contact the Mobile Police Department’s CrimeStoppers line at 251-208-7000 or to text the keyword CRIME411 to CRIMES, 274637.
The charge underscored a pattern that would become familiar to those following the city’s court dockets that year: a suspect already held on one set of allegations facing far more serious counts as an earlier investigation reached its conclusion. For the family of George Williams, the filing marked a step toward answers about a death that had unfolded over two days in mid-May, beginning with a confrontation on a residential street and ending in a hospital bed.
As of the report, Kennedy had not entered a plea, and the case was set to proceed through the preliminary stages of Mobile County’s criminal court process. The murder count carried the possibility of a lengthy prison term if it resulted in a conviction, and it added to the drug counts already pending against him.