Background: Washington Manor apartments can be seen off of East Belz Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Duriell Williams (Shelby County Sheriff”s Office).
A man is accused of dangling his baby daughter over a balcony railing in Tennessee and threatening to shoot the girl’s mother.
Duriell Williams, 21, has been charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment, according to a Shelby County criminal affidavit. The charges stem from an incident that took place in Memphis in early June.
On June 6, a woman reported to the Memphis Police Department that the father of her child – Williams – assaulted her and their 5-month-old daughter while visiting them at her apartment in Washington Manor off of East Belz Boulevard in the city. According to the court document, Williams came over and asked the woman to “come outside and talk.”
She agreed, and after they did, Williams “asked to see and hold their child,” the affidavit goes on. As he did so, he allegedly made a threat: “You don’t think I’d throw her over the railing.”
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Williams then “held the infant’s feet over the second-story railing outside the apartment knowing[ly] putting the infant in imminent danger,” police said. The mother was able to take the child away from Williams and run back into her apartment – but the alleged danger was not yet over.
The suspect is said to have pulled out a gun and “threatened to shoot up the apartment” – where several other children were staying – if the woman did not come outside. “Fearing what Williams may do,” she went back out and met him, the affidavit says.
He is accused of subsequently pointing his gun at the woman, “asking if she was ready to die.” But he noticed neighbors in their vicinity, the affidavit states, and he left.
Williams was later arrested and is in the Shelby County Jail on a $100,500 bond. His next court date is scheduled for Aug. 4.
