ST. CLOUD, MN – Roberto Antwan Williams, 38, of St. Cloud is facing serious time after a federal jury found him guilty Tuesday of possessing firearms as a convicted felon. The six-day trial, held before Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright in U.S. District Court, detailed a pattern of brazen disregard for the law, and a disturbing connection to the death of a five-year-old child.
The case stemmed from two separate incidents. In July 2020, Williams attempted to rob a man at gunpoint outside an apartment. He was quickly apprehended, and a firearm found in the vehicle he was driving bore his DNA. But the evidence didn’t stop there. Months later, in November 2020, a five-year-old child was pronounced dead at a St. Cloud hospital, the victim of a gunshot wound.
Williams and his fiancée, the child’s mother, initially claimed they were shopping when they received the call about the shooting, returning home immediately before rushing to the hospital. But investigators quickly poked holes in that story. Surveillance footage revealed the fiancée transported the child to the hospital alone, while Williams was seen on camera discarding two backpacks into a garbage bin outside their home.
A search of those backpacks turned up a Kel-Tec model Sub .40 caliber semiautomatic rifle and a purple Taurus model G2C 9mm semiautomatic pistol with an extended magazine. Grimly, investigators found the deceased child’s blood on the Taurus. A photo of the purple Taurus was also discovered on Williams’ cell phone, accompanied by the chilling text: “my new toy.”
With multiple prior felony convictions for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a weapon, Williams was legally prohibited from owning any firearms or ammunition. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with the FBI, St. Cloud Police Department, and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tom Calhoun-Lopez and Mary S. Riverso prosecuted the case.
Sentencing for Williams has not yet been scheduled. He now faces a substantial prison term for illegally possessing the weapons and a case that raises disturbing questions about the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of a young child. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Andrew M. Luger, has not released further details regarding the child’s death, stating it remains under investigation.
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