Inset: William Brock (Clark County Sheriff's Office). Background:Brock pointing a gun at Loletha Hall moments before shooting her multiple times.
An 83-year-old man in Ohio will likely spend the remainder of his life in prison for killing a 61-year-old Uber driver in front of his home, wrongly believing she was trying to rob him — when both were victims of the same phone scam.
A jury in Clark County deliberated for less than two hours before finding William Brock guilty on all counts, including murder, felony assault, and kidnapping in the 2024 fatal shooting of Loletha Hall, authorities announced.
While both Brock and Hall were victims of the scammers, Brock's claim of self-defense fell apart because Hall was defenseless and posed no threat before Brock shot her six times.
"Both families have lost loved ones because of this, and there are no winners here," Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll said in a statement following the verdict. "The really sad part about this is that we know that the scammers, the folks who started this, haven't been brought to justice. And hopefully one day the FBI will bring those folks and we'll be able to prosecute them right here in Clark County for what they did."
As Law&Crime previously reported, the fatal incident took place in front of Brock's residence in South Charleston at 11:18 a.m. on March 25, 2024. That morning, Hall — an Uber driver for more than a decade — accepted what she believed was a legitimate assignment from the rideshare company directing her to pick up a package for delivery at Brock's home.
Unbeknownst to Hall, the same person or people who directed her to Brock's home had also contacted Brock, threatening to kill his family unless he gave $12,000 cash to a woman matching Hall's description.
Footage from a dashcam inside Hall's Acura shows her approaching Brock's home, getting out of her car and engaging with Brock before attempting to leave the home. But Brock trailed her closely, pointing his .22 caliber revolver at her and at one point, taking her phone away from her so she could not make any outgoing calls.
"Ms. Hall, unfamiliar with the circumstances which had occurred, arrived and made contact with Mr. Brock," investigators wrote in an incident report.
Hall made no demands of Brock, according to police, and only asked him about the package she was meant to pick up. Brock started making demands about her identity and that's when he took her phone and refused to allow her to leave. During the encounter, Brock "made no attempts to summon help or call 911 for assistance," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
"Ms. Hall attempted to re-enter her vehicle to leave the property and escape, during which time she was shot by Mr. Brock, and Mr. Brock was injured in the subsequent scuffle at the door of Ms. Hall's vehicle," the incident report said. "Further exchange took place between them, after which Mr. Brock shot Ms. Hall again, and after further exchange, shot her again a third, separate, time."
It was not until after the shooting that Brock called 911. During the call, Hall could reportedly be heard in the background repeatedly saying, "Help me."
"Objectively, a reasonable person would not shoot a defenseless woman multiple times to protect themselves from words of a scammer," Assistant Clark County Prosecutor Kadawni Scott told jurors during his opening statements, per the Springfield News-Sun. "The act doesn't justify the act of taking a life of another, because words scared him?"
Following the verdict, Brock's bond was revoked and he was returned to custody. He is currently scheduled to appear for his sentencing hearing on Jan. 21.
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