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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- One of the city teenagers allegedly involved in the 2024 New Year's Day shooting is heading for jury selection after turning down a plea agreement of 4.5- to 20-years' incarceration.
Ezekiel Marcus Williams, 19, was charged with single felony counts of criminal homicide, criminal attempt - criminal homicide, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, criminal use of a communication facility, firearms not to be carried without a license, two felony counts of aggravated assault and related misdemeanors.
Williams appeared before President Judge Wade A. Kagarise for a trial list review hearing Thursday afternoon, during which defense attorney Helen Stolinas asked for the case to be listed for jury selection in November.
Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks objected to the move, saying that Williams had since been charged with armed robbery out of Centre County. He added that Williams was "balking" at the length of parole involved with the plea offer.
Kagarise ultimately granted Stolinas's request to have the matter scheduled for jury selection and set it for 8 a.m. Nov. 19.
Weeks said the offer of 4.5- to 20-years' incarceration would remain open until the close of business on Sept. 25.
Williams was one of seven teenagers arrested and charged in 2024 after shots were fired along the 700 block of Fourth Street in the early morning hours of New Year's Day. An ensuing police investigation found it was a planned act of gang violence following a long-standing dispute.
A bullet reportedly went through the window of an occupied residence and several bullets struck other areas of the building, as well as a garage, storage facility and dumpster. No one was injured, the police report states.
Domenico Pezzuti, Imeen Whitaker, Williams, Hezikiah N. Stehley and Jay Seville were also arrested and have charges pending. Eli James Rodgers had his case transferred to juvenile court in March 2025, where he was adjudicated delinquent and will be under supervision until he turns 21.
According to a report by WJAC in late February 2026, Williams was allegedly one of at least two individuals charged in connection to an armed robbery in State College.
Ferguson Township police reported Williams was jailed Feb. 27 following a monthslong investigation into a jewelry robbery at a housing complex. Officers identified Williams as one of the individuals who allegedly held a man at gunpoint in early December, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Centre County officials denied Williams bail in the case and cited his pending attempted homicide and related charges in Blair County in saying he is a "severe public safety risk."
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.