On the late evening of March 29, 2025, a burst of gunfire shattered the midnight calm on the 1800 block of South Gilbert Street in Iowa City. Inside a parked vehicle sat 38-year-old Elijah Williams, a Black / African American male, alongside another individual. It was in this car that Williams was fatally shot, his life ending abruptly. He was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead from his injuries.
The Iowa City Police Department responded to the report of the shooting at approximately 11:57 p.m. and immediately began an investigation into what appeared to be an isolated incident.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on a suspect, Antavis M.W. Watson, a 44-year-old man with a history of felony convictions. Law enforcement officials, including the U.S. Marshals Service, apprehended Watson on April 1, 2025. He was subsequently charged with a litany of serious offenses: first-degree murder for the death of Williams, attempted murder for the other person in the vehicle, and possession of a firearm as a felon. Eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage from the area reportedly showed Watson approaching the vehicle just before the shots were fired.
Further investigation into the relationship between the two men revealed a possible motive. According to court documents and data retrieved from Williams's phone, he and Watson were known to each other and had been engaged in an ongoing feud. This personal conflict is believed to have escalated to the fatal confrontation on that March night. Watson, who has a criminal record that includes a prior ten-year prison sentence for first-degree theft and domestic abuse assault involving a weapon, now faces the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted of the murder of Elijah Williams. He has since pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his trial was scheduled to begin in July.
