SBI completes fatal shooting probe
Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump decided to let the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys handle the decision on whether to prosecute anyone in the death of Hasson Williams, 32, of Greensboro, Senior Assistant District Attorney Cyrus Brown told The High Point Enterprise on Friday.
Crump 'felt that our office had a conflict, which is why she made her decision,' Brown said. 'It was her decision to make a formal request for the Conference of District Attorneys to review the incident and any findings so that they could make a determination on how it should be handled.'
One of the roles of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys is to step into cases where there's a possible conflict of interest in a local jurisdiction, according to the association's website. The Raleigh-based conference was established as a state agency in 1983 by the N.C. General Assembly to assist county district attorneys with the administration of their offices.
The SBI was brought in to take over the case in October at the request of the High Point Police Department because of the potential conflict of interest with Jefferson. Relatives of the mayor included Williams and other people at the house in the 400 block of Ridgebrooke Drive where the shooting took place Oct. 19.
The Enterprise reported in October, based on the initial incident report and a 911 call by a woman in the residence, that Williams died in an apparent accidental shooting while handling a 9 mm Glock pistol with another person.
The incident report, developed by the High Point Police Department before the SBI received the case, said that several other people inside the house reported that the pistol went off while the two were handling it. Williams was shot in the head.
The woman who called 911 told an emergency dispatcher that the shooting was a 'mistake.'
The residence on Ridgebrooke Drive is in the Davidson County part of the city of High Point, but Davidson County District Attorney Garry Frank told The Enterprise earlier this week that the area of the city around Ridgebrooke Drive falls under the oversight of the Guilford County District Attorney's Office.
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