Gay teen murdered in Fort Lauderdale

By Sun/Sentinel

Like any mother whose son is killed in a latenight street shooting, Denise King is having a hard time coming to terms with the circumstances surrounding the death of her son, Simmie Lewis Williams.

Williams, just 17 years old, was shot in the early morning of Feb. 22 at Sistrunk Boulevard and NW 10th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. According to police, Williams was dressed in women's clothing at the time of the shooting and was walking in an area known for prostitution.

Kathy Collins, police spokesperson, said Williams was dressed like a women, but he was not wearing a dress.

Detectives have not determined whether the shooting was a hate crime, Collins said. So far, they have gotten few leads to identify the suspects or the circumstances of the shooting.

''We're not getting any help,'' Collins said. '' Even though the area was populated, we are not getting any calls.''

Although the details are sparse, police believe Williams may have been involved in an altercation with one or two suspects before the shooting.

Witnesses have described the shooters as being two young black men dressed in dark clothing who were seen running away from the scene.

Faced with continued calls from police detectives and reporters in the midst of arranging her oldest son's funeral, King said she has been wrestling with the possibilities of what her son was doing the night that he was killed.

''It's been hard on me. It really has been hard,''King said wiping her tears at her kitchen table.

When faced with the reasons why her son was shot, King trades speculation for certainty. What she knows is this: her son was kind hearted and quiet. He was smart, and he was well liked by his friends and family.

''Simmie was a human being,'' King said. ''Whether he was gay or not, his life was taken from him by all this foolishness.''

She says she doubts he was a crossdresser and that she never saw Williams dressed like a woman. She believes that he was never involved in any form of prostitution. Williams lived with her in her duplex on the west side of Fort Lauderdale, but he often spent time with friends and family in the centrally located Sistrunk area where he was murdered.

Williams was the oldest of King's five children. He dropped out of the 10th grade at Hollywood Hills High School in 2006. He had worked part time at Kmart and seasonally at HoneyBaked Ham. She said it was difficult breaking the news to the manager there. Williams was supposed to work there during the Easter season.

''The manager kept calling his name,'' King said. ''He was saying, 'Not Simmie, not Simmie. It can't be him.' ''

King said she was in the process of enrolling her son in a Job Corps program. She said he planned to get his GED and then go to culinary school. He had dreamed of working as a professional chef one day in California.

King believes her son may have been killed because he was openly gay. '' This is a hate crime,'' she said from her dining room Tuesday morning. ''The violence needs to stop. People need to let people be who they want to be.''

Groups condemn anti gay violence

Since news of Williams death bega n spreading last weekend, gay rights organizations such as Equality Florida and Trans gender Equality Rights Initiative (TERI) have issued statements condemning the killing.

''We can be horrified, but we cannot be surprised,'' said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, in a press statement.

Smith puts William's death in the same context as other young gay people who have been killed, including 15 year old Lawrence King who was gunned down in a California classroom, and Ryan Skipper, who was found stabbed to death in Polk County, Fla., last year. ''All these deaths were preventable,'' Smith said. ''We all must have the will to act and compel our schools and our legislature to confront the harassment and violence directed at gay and transgender young people.''

The Gay American Heroes Foundation, a traveling monument that memorializes gay people who were killed in homophobic violence, is considering including Williams among its list of heroes.

Scott Hall, director of the foundation, said the board will review all the facts in the case before making its determination. Still, the group is organizing a press conference at the site of the murder at 4:30 p. m. on Thursday to denounce hate fueled violence. Th e re is also a town hall meeting planned at 6:30 p. m. at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of South Florida in Fort Lauderdale.

''Any person who is murdered because they might be gay or trans gendered deserves some kind of memorial,'' Hall said.

On Tuesday, it was clear that Williams will not be fo rgotten. A makeshift memorial made up of teddy bears and a rainbow fl ag has sprung up on the corner of Sistrunk and NW 10th Avenue.