Appleton teenager sentenced to 14 years in prison for Erb Park shooting last summer

APPLETON – A 17-year-old Appleton boy will spend at least the next 13 years in prison for shooting another teen at Erb Park last summer.

As Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis delivered Cashmere Williams' sentence Friday morning, family members in the gallery became emotional, some excusing themselves from the courtroom. Sobs were heard in the hallway.

Williams pleaded no contest in May to one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. A second charge of battery by prisoners, which Williams received after a fight with another prisoner in Outagamie County Jail in October, was dismissed but read in, meaning the charge won't be on Williams' record but McGinnis was able to take it into account in determining his sentence.

At Friday's sentencing hearing, Williams read a statement he prepared for the judge, apologizing for his "bad decision" and telling McGinnis he would "be okay with whatever sentence you decide to give me."

Williams became emotional when discussing the impacts the shooting had on others.

"I'm sorry for my bad choice, because there were lots of kids at the park and they're probably traumatized," he said. "I now see the reason why kids shouldn't have guns, because we are still dealing with our emotions."

McGinnis sentenced Williams to 14 years in prison followed by 16 years of extended supervision. Williams already served 326 of those days in the Outagamie County Jail.

What happened during the shooting at Erb Park

The shooting occurred around 4:30 p.m. July 31, 2023, at Erb Park, 1800 N. Morrison St.

It was a hot summer Monday, as the pool was starting to empty for the evening, parents were arriving in the parking lot to pick up their kids, while others continued to enjoy the park's amenities like the basketball court, playground and walking paths, Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said.

Police put a shelter-in-place order on the neighborhood. Tempelis said the high schoolers and college students who worked summer jobs at the Erb Swimming Pool had to try to fit people into the pool locker room.

"Nobody knew where it was coming from, nobody knew what was happening," Tempelis said.

One victim was taken to ThedaCare Neenah and treated for gunshot injuries to his arm and abdomen, according to a criminal complaint.

Later that evening, police arrested Williams, then 16, at his house. He had changed clothes and attempted to buzz his hair after the shooting — but appeared to miss a few areas where longer clumps of hair remained, the complaint says.

The person who was shot told officers he was walking across Erb Park to meet his girlfriend and stopped at a water fountain near the park's pavilion, where he saw Williams, who he knew. Williams then approached him and pulled out a semi-automatic pistol, firing his gun eight times, the complaint says.

The victim ran from the scene, and didn't realize he had been shot until he "felt the blood dripping down him," the complaint says.

At Friday's sentencing hearing, attorneys said Williams shot the victim as retaliation for a fight that had occurred the previous day, also at Erb Park.

Williams' defense attorney Timothy Hogan played a video depicting part of the fight, taken on someone's phone. The 18-second clip showed three people punching and kicking Williams, who was curled up in the grass. One of the people beating Williams was identified as the victim in the shooting case.

Attorneys said police were contacted after the fight on July 30, but they did not obtain the video footage of the incident until later, after extracting it from a cell phone as part of the shooting investigation.

Hogan said Williams did not go to the park July 31 with the intention of shooting the victim, but he brought a gun in his waistband and his anger "took control" after seeing the person who beat him up.

Attorneys discuss mental health and rehabilitative needs

Much of the discussion at Williams' sentencing hearing centered around the teen's history of mental health issues and behavioral problems.

Williams' grandmother and mother both gave statements on Williams' behalf, asking McGinnis to grant the teen some leniency. Others had written letters to the judge prior to the hearing.

"He has mental health issues but all in all he's a good kid. And that's all he is: a kid," Williams' grandmother said. "He's a kid in a big body."

Both Tempelis and Hogan discussed information from the pre-sentence investigation report regarding Williams' history. They said Williams had been exposed to violence in his childhood, he lacked stability as his upbringing involved a lot of moving between states and schools, he has had a longstanding distrust of authority, and has a history of violent outbursts and issues attending school. Williams stopped attending school altogether in 2022, Tempelis said.

Hogan said Williams had been hospitalized for mental health treatment six to seven times, the first when he was 5 years old.

"I don't think there is any doubt that there is a treatment need," Tempelis said.

However, she continued, the priority to protect the public should come before Williams' needs for rehabilitation.

Tempelis recommended McGinnis sentence Williams to 14 to 20 years of prison time, followed by as long a period of extended supervision as the judge deemed necessary.

"He shot directly at the victim. Thankfully, the defendant wasn't good at shooting, or he would have killed him," Tempelis said.

Hogan said Williams purposely aimed the shots lower in an attempt to not kill the victim.

He also pointed out that while Williams initially displayed outbursts and aggression in Outagamie County Jail, he had not had any incidents in eight months, since the fight in October. This shows the teen's maturing, the attorney said.

He also noted Williams' perseverence in recent months to attend classes and get his GED.

Hogan asked for a sentence of eight years of initial confinement followed by 10 years of extended supervision.

That sentence, Hogan argued, would allow Williams to return to society in his mid-20s, when his brain is nearly fully developed and thus he would be less impulsive.

Williams reiterated in his statement to McGinnis that he has been able to mature and learn to correct his reactive behavior in the past year in jail.

"I have changed since I've been in here. Not because I want to leave but because I want to be a better person," he said.

Cashmere Williams will begin his sentence at Wisconsin's juvenile prison for boys

Because Williams is still a minor, he will start serving his sentence at Lincoln Hills School, Wisconsin's juvenile prison for boys. For the next eight months until his 18th birthday, Williams will have more available resources than he will receive in an adult prison, including the ability for his family to participate in his programming, Hogan said.

"There is no doubt in my mind that you have had a very poor childhood. Your childhood was filled with a lot of trauma. That trauma is not your fault. It's not any kid's fault," McGinnis told Williams before delivering the sentence.

McGinnis also said he believes Williams has "some very severe and longstanding mental health issues" he will likely have to deal with his whole life.

Still, he said he agreed with Tempelis that Williams poses "an extreme risk" at his age.

Williams' sentence will allow him to be released from prison around the time he is 30, McGinnis said. The judge told the teen he believes he is "a good guy with a bright future" but needs to focus on rehabilitation while he serves his prison sentence.

Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton teen sentenced to 14 years in prison for Erb Park shooting