15-year-old has record

The 15-year-old boy who officials say fired two shots at an Omaha police officer on Friday has an extensive criminal record in Douglas and Sarpy counties.

At the time of a Friday afternoon traffic stop from which Cameron O. Williams fled, the boy was on probation in Sarpy County for several marijuana arrests.

Police say Officer Josiah Warren shot Williams after the traffic stop near 84th and G Streets. They say the boy fired a gun at officers as he ran from the car and that Warren returned fire, striking Williams once in the chest.

The boy, a student at Bellevue West High School, was listed in critical but stable condition on Sunday at the Nebraska Medical Center, said his attorney, James Martin Davis.

Warren has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure, as the shooting is investigated. Officer Justin Knapp, who initiated the traffic stop, also was briefly placed on paid administrative leave but returned to active duty Sunday, police said.

Williams was arrested by Bellevue police in February and charged in juvenile court with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver after officers found more than an ounce of marijuana on him. He also was charged with obstructing a police officer, though that charge later was dropped.

Williams was placed on probation and ordered to take part in a drug treatment program. But on June 26, he was arrested again by Bellevue police after marijuana was found in his home.

Officials with the Sarpy County Attorney's Office filed an order to have his probation revoked.

Two days later, on June 28, he was arrested again on marijuana charges. On Oct. 28, he was ordered by a judge to serve probation and to submit to drug testing, among other stipulations.

Sarpy County court records also show that Williams ran away from home several times at the age of 12, was charged with being an uncontrollable youth and placed in temporary custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

In Douglas County, Williams recently had completed his juvenile court program after he was charged with stealing a computer from a school in April 2008.

According to the police report, a school computer was found in Williams' locker at Marrs Magnet School, where he was a student.

That case was terminated in September after he completed the stipulations set out for him.

He also had been cited twice on suspicion of obstructing police. Both those cases later were dismissed.

In court documents related to the computer theft, Williams' grandfather wrote that Cameron was “really an out-of-control young man.”

The grandfather said Williams had been suspended several times from school, regularly misses his 9 p.m. curfew, refuses to do chores at home and is disrespectful to teachers and family members.

He was taken to the Douglas County Youth Center in October 2008 then returned to his grandfather in Bellevue.

Davis, Williams' attorney, said neither he nor Williams' mother, Anita Parsons, were allowed to visit the boy in the hospital after the shooting. Acting Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes said today that both Williams' mother and father were escorted by detectives to the hospital room on Saturday, but Davis and Parsons were not allowed to enter the room on Sunday. Hayes said the officer guarding the door of the room on Sunday had been ordered not to allow any visitors inside.

Hayes said family members and attorneys of people who are in custody are allowed to visit the person in a hospital, but for safety's sake, officers must have advance notice before the visit.

“We'll let (Davis), as the attorney, see his client,” Hayes said. “We'll make arrangements for the mom, in a safe and secure way, to see her son.”

Davis said he hopes his client will be able to tell him more about what happened during Friday afternoon's shooting.

World-Herald staff writers Kevin Cole, Joe Dejka and Susan Szalewski contributed to this report.

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