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HOWLAND -- Joshua Williams "would have not gotten into that van if he knew there was going to be a fight," said his mother, Kristen Williams, who is planning funeral arrangements for the 20-year-old shot to death Saturday after a fist fight outside a home on state Route 46.
"He was a homebody," said Williams. "This kid had no fight in him."
Williams -- shot five times in the chest and abdomen, according to Dr. Joseph Ohr, forensic pathologist for the Mahoning County Coroner's Office -- was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
Williams called her son a "wonderful boy," who over the past couple years was prohibited from driving or working because of epileptic seizures, but in the last two months was on the correct medication to keep the seizures at bay. Two months from now would have made Williams seizure-free for six months, which meant he could drive and work, Williams said.
"He had so much of a better outlook on life. He said, 'I'm finally going to be normal mom, a normal 20-year-old. I'm going to work. I'm going to drive,'" Williams said.
Also killed in the shooting at 1564 state Route 46 was Joshua Haber, 19, who died of a single gunshot to the abdomen and chest, according to the Trumbull County Coroner's Office.
Both deaths were ruled homicide.
Injured were April Vokes, 43, Haber's mother, who was shot in the head, arms, chest and legs; Bryce Hendrickson, 20, who was shot in the face and arm; and John Shively, 17, who was shot in the back. Williams said her son and Hendrickson are second cousins with Haber and Shively.
Charged in connection is Nasser Hamad, 47, who was indicted Wednesday by a Trumbull County grand jury on two aggravated murder charges that carry the penalty of death and six counts of attempted aggravated murder.
Hamad, in the Trumbull County Jail on $5 million bond, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Prosecutors allege an exchange on Facebook between Hamad and Hendrickson led up to the shooting. Essentially, the conversation boiled "down to threats made by both parties," according to a court document in the case.
Hendrickson's dad, Brian Hendrickson, said he warned Bryce and his other son, Dylan Hendrickson, to not have contact with Hamad on Facebook in late October or early November, which is about when he said he saw Tracy Hendrickson, his estranged wife, and the boys' mother, at Hamad's house. Brian Hendrickson said he even engaged Hamad on Facebook then, stopped, and urged his sons to do the same.
Police reports from Howland show a dispute involving some of the people on Nov. 6.
Police were called to Brian Hendrickson's home on Dawson Drive SE after he complained Hamad was overheard threatening to shoot or "blow him (Brian Hendrickson) away" during a telephone conversation between Dylan and Tracy Hendrickson, the report states. Police told Brian Hendrickson to not have any contact with either his wife or Hamad and that Brian Hendrickson should tell the rest of his family to stay away as well, the police report states.
Later the same day, Hamad contacted police to report a blue Chevrolet Malibu and a burgundy Pontiac Grand Prix repeatedly drove past his house and the occupants were shouting obscenities and throwing trash into his yard. Hamad also told police that Brian Hendrickson and his sons had sent text messages to Tracy Hendrickson that Hamad believed were threatening toward him, the police report states.
Williams said the Pontiac belongs to her, but denies anyone inside drove by Hamad's house yelling and throwing trash.
Prosecutors claim on Saturday, the five people arrived in a van and there was a fist fight between Hamad and Shively, and when the fight ended, the five got back into the van. It was then Hamad went to the house and grabbed a 9mm gun from his bedroom, came back outside and started shooting.
Witnesses said Hamad unloaded the magazine of the gun into the van, went back inside the home to reload, and then continued shooting.
As the second round of gunfire went into the van, the court document states Shively and Bryce Hendrickson ran away from the vehicle. Hamad told investigators he was shooting at both men as they ran away. Tracy Hendrickson was found by police inside the home, according to prosecutors.
rselak@tribtoday.com