Man sentenced for post-crash shooting of woman
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — A Fort Wayne man who shot and seriously wounded a woman in the middle of a city street after chasing her down was sentenced Tuesday for an Attempted Murder charge – his second such conviction.
Willie L. Amos, 40, was sentenced Tuesday in Allen Superior Court to at least 46 years for Attempted Murder and Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon. Judge John Surbeck will determine later if Amos will spend another 17 1/2 years for a Possession with Intent to Sell Narcotics charge.
According to a probable cause affidavit, in August 2016 Fort Wayne police were called by Rosita York, who said she was being chased in her 2008 red Dodge Charger by Amos in a 1998 white Chevrolet SUV along Lexington Avenue from Harrison Street to Fairfield Avenue.
When the vehicles reached the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Harrison Street, York said the SUV crashed into the Charger’s rear-end and pushed it over the curb, the affidavit said. The chase continued to Fairfield Avenue, where the Charger crashed into a tree and continued through three yards before coming to rest at a tree. The SUV, meanwhile, left the roadway itself and crashed into a fence on the other side of the roadway, the affidavit said.
From there, a witness told police that Amos crawled out of the window of his SUV and, armed with a silver handgun, walked toward the Charger, the affidavit said.
As York yelled, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me,” and “Don’t do this, don’t do this,” a witness said Amos pointed the gun and fired 2-7 shots at York. She was struck twice, the affidavit said.
Amos then walked away, the affidavit said. Police arrested him a short time later and found a gun in his back pocket, the affidavit said.
Police said he admitted to shooting York and said that “he was trying to hurt the victim by shooting her,” the affidavit said.
York was taken to a local hospital in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the knee and chest.
In court Tuesday, Amos said he didn’t intend to kill York.
“I was wrong wholeheartedly in hurting someone I care for dearly,” said Amos. “It don’t make no sense for what I did.”
He then said, “If I wanted to kill her, I would’ve killed her. I had six more bullets left in the gun.”
Amos was convicted of Attempted Murder when he was 17 and was sentenced to 45 years. Surbeck said his rehabilitation had apparently failed, as this latest incident unfolded less than two years after being released.
“If your intention wasn’t to kill this woman, every one of your actions contradicts that,” said Surbeck.
Amos was also ordered to pay over $29,000 in restitution.
