Witnesses Recount Day of 81-Year-Old Man’s Attack During Murder Trial

By Andrea Keckley [former] - May 25, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

Bobby Poole was 81 years old when he became the victim of a deadly attack on a spring day in 2020. During the third day of trial proceedings for the man charged in his death, five witnesses pieced that day together.

Surveillance footage from 11:30 a.m. on March 29, 2020, shows Poole walking into a 7-Eleven on the 900 block of Division Avenue, NE. A witness who knew one of Poole’s children said he saw Poole almost every morning. The next time he saw Poole that day, “he was laying on the ground,” the witness said during the May 24 trial.

Poole was found bleeding from the head by the iron gate of a condominium complex next to the 7-Eleven. Tyrone Williams is accused of assaulting Poole with another unknown individual while trying to rob him. 

Poole was taken to a local hospital and was sent home with hospice care on May 5 but died the following day, more than a month after the attack. That July, a doctor deemed Poole’s primary cause of death to be complications of a subdural hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the head, according to court documents.

“You were always looking for two people, is that correct,” Williams’ defense attorney, Steven Logerfo, asked the day’s first witness, a Metropolitan Police Department detective.

“Yes,” the detective responded. 

Williams, 52, was arrested and charged with assault with intent to commit robbery the same day as the attack. He is now on trial for felony murder and attempted robbery. The detective worked on the case until Poole died and the MPD’s homicide branch took over. During his direct examination, a prosecutor played footage of the detective asking Williams what happened after he and the other individual turned a corner near the 7-Eleven.

“You told Williams that everything was on video before you read his Miranda Rights, is that correct,” Logerfo asked.

The detective agreed.

Williams insisted during the interview that he was alone, despite surveillance footage showing him with someone else. He said he walked to Lowest Price, a nearby gas station and convenience store on Sheriff Road in Capitol Heights, Md., after leaving the 7-Eleven. The detective was not able to access any surveillance footage from Lowest Price. The first time he visited the store, the manager was not there. By the time he visited for a second time, the footage had been overridden. 

The 7-Eleven where Poole and Williams could be seen is no longer open for business as of the May 24 trial day. During direct examination, a prosecutor walked through surveillance footage from the store with the detective.

When the prosecutor paused the footage at 11:30 a.m., Poole could be seen towards the back of the store’s parking lot while Williams was right outside the door. Poole approaches the store and walks in. 

Williams could be seen walking into the 7-Eleven at about 11:32 a.m. and leaving the store less than 10 minutes later.

Outdoor surveillance footage of the side of the store shows Poole walking along a sidewalk towards the condominium, where he’d eventually be found bleeding from his head. Williams and the other individual walk behind him. 

After Poole was attacked, the witness who said he saw Poole almost every day went with the victim’s son to search for the assailants, although he did not see the incident himself. Upon returning to the 7-Eleven, the witness said he saw Williams and alerted the police. He said he saw Williams there almost every day and went on to pick him out of a photo lineup.

Officers stopped Williams outside the 7-Eleven. An MPD officer testified that bystanders were trying to fight him.

An MPD sergeant retrieved Williams’ bag for him before he was led into a police car. During her testimony, the sergeant affirmed that nothing that happened outside the 7-Eleven influenced the decision to arrest him. 

In total, the day’s proceedings featured testimony from three law enforcement witnesses and two civilian witnesses. DC Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo instructed jurors to return to court on May 25 to continue with the trial.