Man sentenced to die for murder of Moody police officer who left chilling letter: ‘You hate me and want me dead’

A Birmingham man convicted in the shooting death of Moody police Lt. Stephen Williams more than three years ago has been sentenced to death.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Phil Seay on Wednesday followed the jury’s 10- 2 recommendation and sentenced 31-year-old Tapero Carleone Johnson to die following his capital murder conviction last month.

Williams, who was a sergeant at the time of his death posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant, was killed June 2, 2020, while on duty.

The shooting happened shortly before 9:30 p.m. that Tuesday at the Super 8 motel on Moody Parkway when Williams, the night-shift supervisor, and other officers responded to the motel.

The call for service turned into a barrage of gunfire during which Williams was struck.

As Williams knocked on the door of Johnson’s motel room, he was immediately met with gunfire from inside the room.

Authorities said Johnson fired 43 rounds through the wall and door of the motel and used four different weapons during the deadly assault.

A medical helicopter was sent for Williams, but the officer was instead taken by ambulance to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Johnson and the second suspect, 31-year-old Marquisha Tyson, also of Birmingham, were quickly taken into custody. Tyson is set to go to trial in March.

Authorities said Tyson had called 911 reporting that four men were outside their motel room door. Video showed no one was, or had been, at the motel door.

Johnson claimed that the shooting was accidental and, on Wednesday, apologized prior to sentencing.

Among the victim impact statements presented in court Wednesday morning was a letter that Williams, who wrote often, had written prior to the deadly shooting.

He also written another poem should he be killed in the line of duty that was read at his funeral.

Moody police Sgt. Stephen Williams

It was written as a general statement to anyone contemplating violence against a law enforcement officer.

The letter was addressed to “Dear sir/ma’am” and unwittingly, and eerily, addressed what would become a reality for Williams.

“I felt obliged to write to you since I know what you are contemplating. You hate me. For whatever reason you hate me and want me dead,’’ the letter read. “Perhaps I arrested you and sent you away for a while. Maybe your lifestyle just cannot coexist with the idea of law and order.”

“Or is it you just have hate in your heart and feel emboldened by the recent swell of hatred in our country and think you be some kind of hero?’’ Williams wrote. “I want you to know what your future holds should you decide to harm for any reason.”

“We are really only talking about two possible outcomes, death and life behind bars,’’ he wrote. “The rest is just in the details. There is no escape. There is no freedom. There is no parade. You will not be a martyr for the cause.”

“They may think you are a hero in prison, but what they think doesn’t matter does it?” he wrote. “You will still be either dead or in a cage That doesn’t equal happily ever after.”

Williams, a 50-year-old father of three, had been a police officer for 23 years, the last three of those at the Moody Police Department. He began his law enforcement career at the Bessemer Police Department and then served the Alabaster Police Department.

He had just been promoted to sergeant in the year before his death and was a recipient of the Officer of the Year award in memory of Keith Turner, who was shot to death June 27, 1998. Until Williams was killed, Turner was the last Moody officer killed in the line of duty.

Williams was born and raised in Mississippi and, after graduating from Mississippi State, served his county in the U.S. Air Force.

Nearly 1,000 mourners attended Williams’ funeral. His sons – both in the U.S. Coast Guard – had pinned his lieutenant bars on their father’s body, just as he pinned their bars on them when they were commissioned as officers.

One of his sons, Cole Williams, in his impact statement talked about growing up with Williams as a father.

“My father is quite simply the greatest man I’ve ever known,’’ he wrote. “I know that one day, if I’m blessed to have children of my own, I stand a good chance of being a noble father who raises them into kind, compassionate and loving people. Because that’s what my dad did for me.”

“Perhaps the biggest thing I will remember about my dad is how never let me say goodbye without saying, ‘I love you,’’ he wrote. “My dad is nothing short of a hero. He’s my hero. I love him and I miss him every day.”

Williams’ wife, Michelle, addressed Johnson in her impact statement.

“Today, we are in this courtroom because of the choices that you, Mr. Johnson, made over three years ago…when you murdered my husband, Stephen,’’ she said. “What the consequences of your choices? Well, for you, Mr. Johnson, it is death.”

“Some might think that you are the only one here today that will face the penalty for any of the decisions you made on that fateful June night,’’ Michelle Williams said. “Unfortunately, that, in fact, is not the truth.”

Michelle Williams talked about the past three years of court proceedings.

“I sat quietly, listening, and watching. Searching for any sign of remorse or regret,’’ she said. “Nothing.”

“I will not ask, ‘Why?’ because there is no answer to justify the heinous choices and actions that bring us to this courtroom today,’’ she said. “I simply cannot wrap my mind around such an evil act, and I am heartbroken because of it.”

Harmon said his heart and prayers remain with the Williams family.

“While Johnson received his sentence, they also received a sentence that will affect them for the rest of their lives with the murder of their father and husband,’’ he said.

“After three years of living the evidence and the murder of Stephen Williams, this sentence is just,’’ Harmon said. “It’s an unfortunate situation that all of us now have to face, including the family of Tapero Johnson.”

“But not of this would have occurred,’’ Harmon said, “but for Tapero Johnson’s decisions on June 2,’’