ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A man who was just released from prison days ago is now facing murder charges after one of his accomplices was shot and killed Monday during an attempted robbery, Ferguson police said.
The robbery, captured on a Ring doorbell camera, showed the victim shoot and kill Tavon Williams while Williams and two others, including the recently freed Joshua Thomas Haegele, tried to rob him at gunpoint in St. Louis County, charging documents said.
Haegele and Vernon Williams were both charged with second-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm.
According to charging documents, Haegele, Vernon Williams, Tavon Williams and an unnamed woman contacted their cousin to buy marijuana. When the four pulled up to the house, their cousin ran out after his dog, at which point Tavon Williams pulled a gun on the victim and said, "You know what time it is, give it up."
Haegele and Vernon Williams got out of the car and held a second witness at gunpoint in the victim's garage.
Police said Tavon Williams pushed the victim toward the garage while continuing to hold a gun to his head. The victim tried to grab the gun from Williams, and the two fought.
The victim then pulled out his own gun, and while still at gunpoint, he shot Williams.
The victim, believing he also had been shot, then ran to a neighbor's house for safety as Vernon Williams and Haegele fired two more shots, documents said.
Haegele's bond was set at $1 million.
Bond information for Vernon Williams was not yet available.
Haegele had previously been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2019 death of 14-year-old Ien Coleman. Police said the boys were in an apartment on Riverview Park Place when Haegele, then 17, started playing with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and accidentally shot Coleman in the face.
Other people in the home said Haegele told them not to call police and ran from the scene.
In Missouri, people can be charged with murder if their accomplice dies as a result of their perpetration of a violent felony.
