Man Pleads Guilty to Involvement in Shooting That Killed 7-Year-Old Boy in West Alabama

Lavares Jackson – Photo provided by District Attorney Michael Jackson

A man has pleaded guilty in Hale County Circuit Court to being involved in a shooting that left a 7-year-old boy dead.

District Attorney Michael Jackson says Lavares Jackson pleaded guilty to manslaughter and reckless assault in the first degree. Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway sentenced him to 20 years on each charge, to run concurrently.

The shooting happened in front of a home on Washington Street in Greensboro on September 6, 2014. State investigators say Jackson and JaPaul Williams had gotten into an argument nearby, ending up near the home where people were gathered, including small children.

Investigators say the two men started shooting at each other. Seven-year-old Decorrin Johnson was hit. The boy’s family drove him to Hale County Hospital, where he was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. However, he died while en route and was pronounced dead at Bibb County Hospital.

JaPaul Williams – Photo from Alabama Department of Corrections

Williams was convicted of murder by a jury in Hale County and sentenced to life in 2019. District Attorney Michael Jackson says it was Williams’ bullet that killed the boy.

“These two gunslingers snuffed out an innocent child’s life. Prison is the only place these two need to be,” Jackson told Alabama News Network in a statement.