Background: In Memphis, Tennessee, the Washington Manor apartments are located near East Belz Boulevard (Google Maps). Inset: Duriell Williams (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office).
A man is accused of dangling his baby daughter over a balcony railing in Tennessee and threatening to shoot the girl’s mother.
According to a criminal affidavit from Shelby County, Duriell Williams, aged 21, faces charges of aggravated assault and child endangerment. These charges relate to an incident that occurred in early June in Memphis.
On June 6, a woman reported to the Memphis Police Department that Williams, the father of her child, attacked her and their 5-month-old daughter during a visit to her apartment in Washington Manor, situated off East Belz Boulevard. Court documents reveal that Williams had invited the woman to “come outside and talk” when he arrived.
She consented, and after stepping outside, Williams “asked to see and hold their child,” the affidavit states. While holding the child, he allegedly threatened, “You don’t think I’d throw her over the railing.”
Police reported that Williams proceeded to “hold the infant’s feet over the second-story railing outside the apartment, intentionally putting the infant in immediate danger.” The mother managed to retrieve the child from Williams and retreat into her apartment, but the ordeal was far from over.
The affidavit alleges that Williams then brandished a gun and “threatened to shoot up the apartment,” which housed several other children, unless the woman came outside. “Fearing what Williams might do,” she decided to go out and meet him again, the affidavit records.
He is accused of subsequently pointing his gun at the woman, “asking if she was ready to die.” But he noticed neighbors in their vicinity, the affidavit states, and he left.
Williams was later arrested and is in the Shelby County Jail on a $100,500 bond. His next court date is scheduled for Aug. 4.
