A Houston man has been sentenced to prison for fatally shooting a teenager during a road rage incident as his family left an Astros game in 2021.
Gerald W. Williams, 35, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday, KPRC, KSAT’s sister station in Houston reported.
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Authorities said that on July 6, 2021, Williams shot 17-year-old David Castro in the head in front of the teenager’s father and brother.
After leaving the game, Williams had been driving his Buick aggressively and swerving around vehicles when he got stuck in traffic, police said. Paul Castro, David’s father, made a hand gesture as Williams tried to merge in his lane.
Paul Castro previously told KPRC that he let Williams in line, but Williams followed the family for several miles.
“My son David was a little nervous. He said, ‘There’s that guy.’ I said, ‘I know.’ And I said, ‘We are going to go a different direction,’” he said. “I went as fast as I could, and I started merging through traffic.”
Williams ultimately fired several shots at their truck.
“I heard ‘pop, pop,’ and then I thought he missed,” Castro told KPRC. “I turn around and I see Luke and I said, ‘You’re ok, Luke?’ He was in the back seat, and then I realized my other son had been hit.”
David Castro was taken to the hospital and was on life support, but he died two days later.
Police initiated a manhunt for Williams, and he later surrendered to police on Aug. 1, 2021.
“It’s been 18 months and two weeks,” Paul Castro told KPRC after the plea deal was made. “This is the first time I’ve felt a little bit of peace.”
Because Williams pleaded guilty, the family did not have to testify in a trial.
“We’re thankful that it happened to be able to avoid having to come up and relive the whole thing all over again. We definitely did not want to have to bring my other son to possibly come to the witness stand,” he said.
Williams was previously convicted in 2008 of felony aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was released on parole in February 2020.
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