Dylan Williams was a fourteen year old teen killer from Virginia who would murder thirteen year old Lucia Bremer
According to court documents Dylan Williams decided he wanted to kill someone and even went to such lengths as researching the topic. On the day of the murder Dylan would watch people deciding who he was going to kill. Williams would walk up to thirteen year old Lucia Bremer who was walking with a friend and would fatally shoot the teenage girl
Dylan Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to sixty years in prison
Dylan Williams Videos
Dylan Williams Case
Inside Henrico Circuit Court on Friday, a teen who pleaded guilty to the death of Lucia Bremer was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Dylan Williams, who is now 16, was sentenced for the death of 13-year-old Lucia Bremer, who was gunned down in 2021 while walking with a friend in the Gayton Forest West neighborhood.
He was sentenced Friday to three years on the use of a firearm charge, 10 years on attempted second-degree murder and 75 years – with 28 years suspended – on the first-degree murder charge. Three other charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.
The judge said Williams will serve the first part of his sentence inside the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice until he turns 21. After this, Williams will serve the rest of his term with the Department of Corrections.
Dozens packed the courtroom for the sentencing hearing, with many wearing Lucia’s favorite color, green.
Henrico deputies escorted Williams, who was handcuffed and wearing a suit and tie, inside the courtroom for the proceeding at 11:08 a.m.
At the start of the hearing, Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor told the judge 75 victim impact statements had been submitted to the court for review.
One of the first people to read their statement to the court was Lucia’s best friend, who was walking with her and survived the attempted murder. On the stand, the teen talked about her relationship with Lucia, saying, “I never met a soul like Lucia.”
The teen also described how Williams held her at gunpoint inside the garage.
“Lucia was my everything,” said the teen as she grew emotional on the stand recounting the events of the day.
“We heard from her mom and dad talking about what it was like to have the daughter who lived and what that meant in terms of wanting to be there for Lucia’s mom and dad,” Taylor said after the sentencing.
Shortly after noon, Lucia’s video application for a specialty program at Glen Allen High School was played for the court.
Lucia’s brothers, father and aunt also took the stand to share their victim impact statements.
Meredith Bremer, Lucia’s mother, placed a framed picture of her daughter beside her as she read her statement.
“We were alike in so many ways,” said Meredith Bremer when describing her relationship with her daughter.
On the day of the shooting, Meredith Bremer recounted the moments when she ran to find her daughter shot inside the garage and the moment when she and the rest of Lucia’s family found out she passed away at the hospital.
“It is hard to put into words the emptiness,” said Meredith Bremer. “I walk to the place she died almost every day.”
After a brief recess, Lucia’s father, Jonathan, took the stand to share his statement and started out by saying, “I miss Lucia.”
“Lucia was by my side, always,” said Lucia’s father during his victim impact statement. “She was the light in so many people’s lives.”
During the hearing, Dr. Salmann Khawaja, a neuropsychologist also talked about the exam he performed on Williams and found he had an antisocial personality disorder. In his testing, the expert also said there was evidence of a learning disability and said his processing speed is slow.
In addition, Dr. Khwaja said he found no evidence of anxiety and depression.
Dr. Khwaja also recounted his conversations with Dylan on Oct. 9, 2022.
During this, Dr. Khwaja said Williams told him he had homicidal ideations had researched “how to kill someone” one year before the March 2021 shooting.
In addition, Dr. Khwaja said Williams decided in March 26, 2021 he would move forward with his plan and decided to go to the fence by Godwin High School to look for people, which lasted for an hour
In the courtroom, it was also revealed Williams saw his mother die “suddenly” from asthma in November 2018. Williams’ relatives also said in court his father was stabbed and killed.
During the court proceeding, it was also revealed that Dylan Williams attempted to escape from the juvenile detention center he was being held at in Sept. 2022. During the court proceeding, an employee recounted the moments Williams tried to run towards an unlocked gate and dig through the grass and dirt underneath a fence. The employee also said Williams threw a manhole cover towards a window, costing an estimated amount of $1,800 in damage.
Towards the end of the hearing, Williams’ defense attorney, Kevin Purnell, also submitted four letters to the court from Williams’ family members, asking the judge to get him the help and rehabilitation he needs.
On the stand, Dylan Williams’ uncle also took the stand, offering his condolences to the Bremer family.
“I want to understand why my nephew did what he did,” he said during the proceeding. “I’m sorry for what he did.”
Before the judge shared his ruling on sentencing, Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor took the podium to talk about the impact Lucia’s loss has had on the community and emphasized her request to impose the cap of 60 years, as written in the plea agreement.
“That was the one way to ensure the protection of the community and that was because of the evidence that we heard from the expert in this case, Dr. Khawaja, about what we call future dangerousness,” Taylor said after the hearing.
Purnell, Dylan Williams’ defense attorney, took the stand after and asked that the court doesn’t go above 20 to 25 years for sentencing.
“There has to be hope,” said Purnell.
Dylan Williams also spoke to the court, apologizing to the victim’s family, and said if he could take his life and bring her back, he would.
“His apology could be genuine or if you believe Dr. Khawaja and the fact that he’s been given this antisocial personality disorder, it could be also just another attempt to recognize that he’s doing something that’s self-serving,” Taylor said.
The judge also said, “This is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions,” moments before announcing Dylan Williams’ sentence.
During the sentencing, the judge also said Dylan Williams is not allowed to have any contact with the families of Lucia Bremer and the girl he held at gunpoint inside the garage.
A one-year review is scheduled for April 19, 2024.
https://www.nbc12.com/2023/04/14/teen-sentenced-death-lucia-bremer/
