PHILADELPHIA – Authorities in Philadelphia on Friday attributed four homicides in 2018 and 2019 to a man they say is a professional hitman.
Prosecutors on Friday said the murders were the work of Steven Williams, 25.
Williams was arrested Wednesday at a Pennsylvania prison where he is doing time for other crimes, which were not outlined.
The accused hitman has been charged with four counts of murder and related offenses in four separate incidents. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Williams collected thousands of dollars as a contracted killer, Fox 29 Philadelphia reported.
“Following a complex investigation by Philadelphia Homicide detectives, my office is today able to begin prosecution of Steven Williams, who collected thousands of dollars as a contract killer. His streak of wanton, violent crimes against our communities over the past two-plus years ends today,” Krasner said. “I would like to thank the Philadelphia Police Department for their investigation and my office’s Homicide Unit for moving forward with this case. Despite the closure of most court functions, we will proceed as quickly as possible to bring him to justice, and to support those who have been mourning his victims for years.”
A law enforcement source told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Williams belonged to a team of assassins.
“You go to somebody in that group and you say, ‘I want so-and-so dead.’ They don’t care who it is, they don’t want to know the reason why. All they want to know is, ‘Will you give me portraits of dead presidents on green paper called money?’ If you can come up with the money, they will kill somebody for you,” the source said, according to the paper.
The news organization reported being told by police that Williams initially denied any knowledge of the murders, but when confronted with evidence admitted knowing of the slayings and said others had conspired to make him the “fall guy.”
The four victims were males from Philadelphia, the paper reported.
William Crawford, 35, was gunned down while getting out of his car; Jermaine Simmons, 39, was shot and killed while sitting in a parked car; Richard Isaac, 31, was shot in the head and chest while sitting on the front porch of a home; and Leslie Carrol, 46, was slain while sitting in his son’s car with the engine running, according to the Inquirer.
Crawford’s murder occurred in September 2018, Fox reported.
The other three murders occurred in 2019 during a three-month span.
