Store bandit who was shot sentenced

• Anthony “Cool Joe” Williams was shot last May 16 as he tried to hold up a southside liquor store.
• Authorities said a handgun, in the store for employees’ protection, discharged during a struggle.
• Williams — also convicted of robbery in 1991 - received a 9-year sentence with 3 years suspended.

MUNCIE – A Muncie felon who was shot last May when he tried to hold up a southside liquor store was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison.

Authorities said Anthony Jerome “Cool Joe” Williams, now 48, was shot in the pelvic region as he struggled with a clerk he was trying to rob — at the 15th & Hoyt Liquor store, 2204 S. Hoyt Ave. — over control of a handgun.

Public defender Mark McKinney said at Thursday’s hearing that a viewing of a store surveillance video made it “pretty clear what occurred.”

“The clerk made the decision to grab the gun,” McKinney said, adding his client was “extremely lucky to be alive.”

Deputy Prosecutor Zachary Craig said Williams — who had pleaded guilty to robbery — was also lucky he wasn’t facing a murder charge, had the gun been pointed at the clerk when it discharged.

“I want to apologize to my victim and apologize to my family,” Williams told Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Kimberly Dowling. “I was going through a lot of... problems. I know it’s not an excuse for my actions.”

Williams’ criminal record includes earlier convictions for robbery (in 1991), dealing in cocaine (1996) and resisting law enforcement (1990).

McKinney said his client had been “working his butt off,” holding down three jobs, but then began abusing crack cocaine.

Dowling accepted a plea bargain in the case, imposing a nine-year sentence with three years suspended. Williams will be on probation for three years after leaving prison.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.