Five gang members busted for killing hero Southern California security guard outside roller rink NYE party: authorities
Richard Williamson, 48, was gunned down early New Year's Day as he protected some 400 revelers inside a Grand Terrace, Calif., roller rink. Cops quickly tracked down the gangbangers, four of whom are teens and three who are minors, police said.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 6, 2015, 2:48 PM
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Richard Williamson, 48, was shot as he tried to protect the roller rink once gunfire broke out, witnesses and police said.
Cops in Southern California busted five young gangbangers and charged them in the murder of a hero security guard who gave his life protecting a packed roller rink party early New Year’s Day, police said Tuesday.
Richard Williamson, 48, was gunned down outside Cal Skate in Grand Terrace, Calif., around 2 a.m. January 1 as some 400 people, mostly teens celebrated the new year with an all-night skate party.
Another security guard and a bystander were shot and wounded police said.
Ezekiel Isaiah George, 18; Topaz Prince Crummie, 20; Adrian Gentry, 17; Maurice Lamont Martin Jr., 17; and Laquan Trice, 15, were all arrested and charged Monday with murder, attempted murder and shooting at an inhabited dwelling, with gang enhancements added to each count, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Tuesday.
The three minors are held in a juvenile facility but will be charged as adults, prosecutors said. All five are expected to be arraigned Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. local time.
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Williamson, known fondly to friends as Big Will, owned Big Will’s Security Services, a company providing training and security based in nearby Riverside, Calif. The guards were tasked with protecting the party when Big Will did exactly that as gunfire broke out, witnesses said.
Williamson told people to get inside when the shooting started, then went outside himself to protect others.
"There were kids everywhere, people everywhere and he took the focus of the gunfire on him. So he died a hero," big rig trucker Michael Marcoly, who was parked in the rink’s lot at the time and witnessed the gunfight, told KABC-TV. "I jumped up because it was so close and I looked out the window. I saw muzzle flashes coming from this side and saw the security guard returning fire.”
Big Will was married and left behind two children, according to reports.
