In the quiet of a late summer night in Birmingham, Alabama, the life of 20-year-old DeJohn Lewis Williams was tragically cut short. On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, neighbors in the Powderly community were startled by the sound of gunshots, prompting a call to the Birmingham police. When officers arrived at Williams's home around 1 a.m., they discovered a grim scene.
Inside the residence, DeJohn Lewis Williams and another man, 22-year-old Dante Lanier Hall, were found deceased.
Both men had suffered from single gunshot wounds. The atmosphere in the home was heavy with the silence that follows sudden violence. Williams lived at the home where the two men were killed.
Investigators at the scene found a small quantity of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Birmingham police Lt. Sean Edwards described the killings as a 'cold and calculated shooting.' The initial reports indicated that the investigation into the double homicide was ongoing as authorities worked to piece together the events that led to the two young men's deaths.
Despite the initial investigation and the serious nature of the crime, information regarding any arrests or the identification of any suspects has not been made publicly available in the years that have followed. The case, a brutal act that took two lives, remains without a public resolution, leaving questions unanswered and a community to mourn the loss of DeJohn Lewis Williams and Dante Lanier Hall.
