Middletown police have recently named Wofford as the only suspect in the 2008 murder of Davis in the parking lot of a local bar. Detective Rich Bush, of the Middletown Division of Police, said, “it’s no secret out on the street, or was it a secret back then” that Wofford was responsible.
But fear, either of retaliation or being “labeled a snitch,” prevented people from coming forward, he said. And police didn’t have enough evidence to charge Wofford with Davis’ death, Bush said.
Williams said the Douglass Park shooting opened up her emotions and caused her to relive her son’s murder as though it had just happened.
“It’s really hard,” she said. “It’sbringing up old memories.”
On June 18, police said Wofford, 28, pulled into Douglass Park in a red Jeep Cherokee and fired a single shot that struck Knight, 32, in the head. Wofford with three people inside the vehicle sped away. After an indictment for attempted murder, a first-degree felony, and arraignment, Wofford now sits in a Butler County Jail cell on a $500,000 bond. His next court appearance for a plea or trial setting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Six years ago today, it was the mother of Carlos Knight who consoled Sheila Williams after the death of Davis. Now, she had to reach out to her long-time friend when Knight was shot.
“I just feel sorry them that they have to go through what I’m going through. Her son is not dead, but he’s in critical condition,” Williams said. “I’m crying out. I want somebody to come forward so we can lock this guy up. I want him to be locked up for life.”
Back in 2008, after the Williams family finished setting up a Fourth of July family picnic dinner at Smith Park, they got the call “that changed everything,” said Sheila Williams.
“It was one of the most tiring and one of the longest nights of my life,” said Thomas Williams, Shelia’s husband of 20 years.
In the early morning hours of July 4, 2008, dozens of people were outside the parking lot of the bar, then-Grand Illusions and formerly known as Ozzy’s, in the 4300 block of Grand Avenue, when police say someone walked up behind Davis and fired a .380-caliber handgun into the back of his head. Davis was leaning into the driver’s side of a vehicle to talk to two girls inside at the time of the shooting.
The shooter fired three shots, and one of the bullets struck one of the vehicle’s occupants in the arm.
But there is very little physical evidence, and witnesses are the key to charging Wofford, said Bush. He said he needs witness testimony to shed light on the motive behind the shooting.
“My feeling is there were several people that knew what was going to happen,” Bush said about the Davis shooting. “Our hope is with this recent shooting of Carlos Knight, maybe it will loosen people up to talk about that 2008 murder.”
Sheila Williams, who has a daughter nine years older than Davis, said the pain she has suffered since her son’s death has completely changed her “whole view on life.”
“It’s changed me 100 percent,” she said. “I was different, but I’ve changed so much that I don’t trust people anymore. I don’t know too many people here.”
Thomas Williams called Wofford’s alleged actions “cowardly,” and said people should “do the right thing,” because if they had six years ago, Knight wouldn’t be laying in a hospital bed today with a gunshot wound.
"This last shooting that they had, it didn't have to happen," Thomas Williams said. "I just really believe that it's really sad … when somebody can be murdered and gunned down with an abundance of witnesses right there on the scene, and nobody comes forth to do anything about it."
Wofford may yet answer for the shooting of Knight, as witnesses spoke up and helped police charge him with attempted murder.
And while the Williamses wouldn’t classify Middletown as a violent town, they said the violence has progressed and Sheila Williams said the “code of silence is awful” and “we’ve got to take back our streets.”
“(It’s) because people are getting away with it, and nobody’s telling,” said Sheila Williams on why she feels the violence has progressed. “Their code of silence on the streets, they honor that. … It’s like they don’t even care, and that’s not the way I was brought up.”
Davis was not without his faults. He had been released from the Warren Correctional Institution on June 26, 2008, slightly more than a week before he was shot and killed. According to city and county court records, Davis was initially arrested in March 2006 on drug abuse and assault charges, but because he did not report to a probation officer, he was charged with escape and indicted on June 20, 2007.
But Bush said Davis had paid his debt to society and didn’t deserve to be shot from behind.
The Williamses said his incarceration didn’t define Davis. They said their son liked sports, music and fishing. And as a child, he would often feed his friends with food from his parents’ kitchen, and one time gave brand new clothes to friends whose family had no money.
“Spenny was a good-hearted person and he loved life,” said Sheila Williams. “I always taught Spenny to do what’s right and tell the truth, to own up to it. And that’s the type of person he was.”
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