A woman arrested Sunday on suspicion of murder, identified by Aurora police officials as the victim’s wife, previously threatened to shoot her husband if he “ever put hands on her again,” according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday.
Laneidra Whitehead, 45, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy, domestic violence and a crime of violence in the fatal shooting of her partner, 37-year-old Roosevelt Williams, according to her arrest affidavit. Whitehead’s son, 24-year-old Jamir Williams, was also arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy and a crime of violence.
Both are being held on $1 million cash-only bonds and are scheduled to appear Friday morning in Arapahoe County District Court for filing of charges hearings.
Roosevelt Williams was shot Friday night at an apartment complex in the 17100 block of East Adriatic Drive, east of Horseshoe Park. He died Saturday morning at the hospital.
Police said he and Whitehead had been involved in a domestic dispute earlier Friday evening. Investigators said Jamir Williams arrived at the apartment later that night, confronted Roosevelt Williams about the fight and shot him.
Roosevelt Williams’ cousin and her husband, who found him after he was shot and who live directly below him in the apartment complex, called 911 at about 10:15 p.m. Friday to report the shooting, according to court documents.
His cousin told police she often hears commotion coming from the upstairs apartment, but she said the Friday night fight seemed “more dramatic than usual,” the affidavit stated.
She said she was leaving her apartment to meet her husband when she heard yelling from upstairs and saw at least three people, including Whitehead, fleeing the apartment complex, according to the document. She and her husband ran upstairs and found Roosevelt Williams bleeding in the main bedroom of his apartment, but she said he lost consciousness before he could tell her who shot him.
Doorbell security footage from a neighbor appeared to show Whitehead meeting her two sons in the breezeway outside Roosevelt Williams’ apartment and handing one of them a gun, police said in the arrest affidavit.
The three then entered the apartment, police said. Five seconds later, the camera picked up the sound of a gunshot.
Police said no video footage was captured of anyone leaving the apartment, and the apartment maintenance supervisor told police that none of the surveillance cameras work in the complex.
Investigators later obtained Facebook messages from Whitehead to a family member from Friday night where she claimed that Roosevelt Williams had been picking a fight and threatening her, according to the arrest affidavit. In the messages, she said that one of her sons, Jamir Williams, shot her husband.
Other family members told investigators that Whitehead had previously admitted to threatening to shoot Roosevelt Willaims if he “ever put hands on her again.” They encouraged her to leave the relationship if it wasn’t healthy, but she did not.
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