Background: News footage of Jermaine Williams in court for his arraignment in June 2024 (WHAM). Insets (left to right): Timothy Chealey and Shatina Jones (Facebook).
A New York man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he shot and killed two people while they were standing on a front porch.
Jermaine Williams, 25, was found guilty by a jury last month of two counts each of first-degree murder and second-degree murder almost two years after the deaths of 46-year-old Shatina Jones and 43-year-old Timothy Chealey. On Wednesday, Williams was sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, Williams fatally shot Jones and Chealey on the night of May 6, 2024, while they were at a home in Rochester, New York, following a concert that took place earlier that evening.
Williams got into an altercation with an unnamed individual at the concert, then followed them to the same house where Jones and Chealey were. Williams then opened fire, fatally shooting Jones and Chealey. A third, unnamed victim was shot and survived.
Local ABC affiliate WHAM spoke to Jones' family after the shooting and reported that Jones and Chealey had both attended a Sexyy Red concert at the Blue Cross Arena. Jones, who lived in Buffalo, New York, was visiting her daughter in Rochester to celebrate her birthday.
Jones' family told WHAM that Jones had known the homeowner for more than 30 years. Her sister, Andrea Tripp, said, "Our families, we grew up together, so it was just my sister staying one night. She just stayed one night at her best friend's house."
On the night she was killed, Jones had stepped out of the house to smoke a cigarette on the front porch when Williams started firing.
The nature of Jones's relationship with Chealey remained unclear.
After the shooting, Williams fled but was apprehended in a neighboring county by the U.S. Marshals.
Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Adam VanHeyst said in a press release following Williams' conviction, "What should have remained a minor dispute at a concert turned into a calculated and cowardly act of retaliation." He added, "Jermaine Williams made a conscious decision to arm himself and open fire on a porch full of individuals — killing Timothy Chealey and Shatina Jones, one of whom had nothing to do with the earlier altercation."