Man charged in fatal shooting outside Tacoma motel
A felon has been charged with a fatal shooting outside a Tacoma motel.
Damar McCall, 44, pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with the Jan. 25 death of 29-year-old Demonte Nettles Williams. He was ordered held on $1 million bail.
McCall denied being involved in the homicide — he claimed he was stuck in Fircrest traffic at the time of the shooting — but detectives allegedly have video surveillance footage that shows McCall and his Lincoln Town Car at the scene.
Investigators also said they were able to use McCall’s cellphone to track his movements that night and determined he was at the motel in the 8700 block of South Hosmer Street.
Several people called 911 about 4:40 p.m. Jan. 25 to report the shooting. Officers found Williams dead in the parking lot.
Witnesses described seeing the Lincoln Town Car flee and some identified McCall by his street name, officials said.
Surveillance footage shows Williams walk out of a motel room and approach McCall’s car.
“Some type of altercation ensued, and it appears that the victim began to either strike or punch the driver of the vehicle,” according to charging papers.
A woman got out of the passenger seat and backed away from the vehicle. Soon after, Williams could be seen staggering backward before falling to the ground.
Williams died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
An employee at the motel provided police with McCall’s license plate number, which was apparently jotted down in the past because “he had caused some problems in the complex,” records say.
McCall was arrested Thursday in Lakewood.
He told police his Lincoln was stolen two weeks before but he didn’t report it because he thought the thief would bring the car back, prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 2:37 PM.
