Accused Ocean Springs mass shooter agrees to return to Mississippi to face charges

UPDATE: The stepfather of Fa’Darius Davon Williams, the man accused of a mass shooting in Ocean Springs, Miss., says Williams is innocent.

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ORIGINAL STORY:

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A man accused of a mass shooting in Ocean Springs, Miss., will return to the Magnolia State to face charges.

Fa’Darius Davon Williams, 22, appeared remotely Friday from Mobile County Metro Jail, where he has been since his arrest last week.

Mobile County District Judge Zackery Moore held up paperwork authorizing Williams’ transfer and asked if he was willing to sign it.

“Yes, sir,” the defendant said.

As soon as Williams does sign the document, the judge said, Mississippi will be “on the clock” to pick him up. The judge set a review date for May 31 but said he expects Williams to be long gone by then.

Williams faces charges of homicide-willful killing related to the shooting, which left one dead and six wounded. Police in Mobile arrested him at the University of South Alabama Health’s University Hospital hours after that shooting on May 5.

Any defendant facing charges in another state has a right to an extradition hearing, but the only issue is whether the person named in the warrant is the same person in custody. In the vast majority of cases, defendants waive those proceedings and return to wherever the charges were filed.

If a defendant does fight extradition, it triggers a process where the governors of both states have to sign warrants allowing for the transfer. That was the case last year when Hezekiah Kaniel Belfon, who is charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, resisted a return to Mobile following his arrest in Florida.

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