On December 12, 2024, Camare Williams (DOB: 10/8/1979) was convicted of Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class B Violent Felony, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class C Violent Felony, in Schenectady County Court. Schenectady County Court Judge Matthew J Sypniewski presided. The jury acquitted Williams of the top count, charging Murder in the Second Degree.
Williams was convicted of killing Andre Lee (DOB: 7/7/1985) on the morning of March 17, 2016, with an illegally possessed .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun, which was never recovered. Several 911 calls were placed just before 10 a.m. on March 17, 2016, reporting shots fired and a man down on Germania Avenue in the City of Schenectady. There was a single eyewitness to the shooting, however, the witness did not see the shooter’s face and could not identify him. The witness did tell investigators the shooter was wearing a red jacket and fled on foot toward the intersection of Germania Ave and Westover Place.
Lee was found unconscious on the sidewalk of Germania Ave with two gunshot wounds, one entering the right calf and the other entering the left buttocks. He was treated on scene by Firefighter/Paramedics from the Schenectady Fire Department and transported to Ellis Hospital by Mohawk Ambulance. At Ellis, he was treated by the staff in the ER but ultimately succumbed to his injuries as the result of massive internal bleeding. An autopsy was performed by Dr. Michael Sikirica, who determined the bullet which entered the left buttocks of the victim had severed the iliac artery in Lee’s hip, causing Lee to bleed out internally. Dr. Sikirica described that injury as “unsurvivable” and indicated there was nothing first responders or ER doctors could have done to prevent Lee’s death.
Five .45 caliber shell casings were recovered from Germania Ave, as well as three bullets (in addition to the two bullets recovered from Mr. Lee’s body). Surveillance video from the District Attorney’s Office Camera Project captured a vehicle leaving the scene of the killing seconds after 911 calls were received. Video showed the vehicle was driven by a male wearing a red jacket. The surveillance videos were able to capture a license plate number and track the shooter around the city for several minutes. However, they did not capture the driver’s face.
The vehicle and its registered owner were located later that day, however, she initially refused to tell law enforcement who had used her vehicle that morning. The next day, she informed investigators that Williams, her significant other, had taken her vehicle the morning of the incident and then called her telling her he had shot someone on Germania Ave. She informed investigators he also told her where she could find her vehicle, which was about a half block from where pole cameras last saw the vehicle. A search of the vehicle owner’s cell phone corroborated her account and revealed Williams’ cell phone number.
The vehicle owner also provided a motive for the shooting, informing investigators that Williams had claimed to her Lee had shot Williams’ house about a week before the killing. Williams never reported the alleged prior shooting to law enforcement and Lee was never charged or convicted. Investigators were then able to obtain a search warrant for cell phone records associated with a phone number the witness identified as Williams’ which included GPS data which mirrored the path of the vehicle fleeing the killing.
With a full day head start before he was identified, Williams was able to avoid immediate apprehension and his whereabouts were unknown to investigators. Williams’ whereabouts remained unknown for almost two years, until he was arrested in New York City on weapons and drug charges related to the possession of an illegal firearm that did not match the firearm used in the Schenectady killing. However, when he was located, the witness who had previously identified him related to the shooting was no longer residing in the state of New York and her whereabouts could no longer be determined.
Williams was ultimately convicted of the gun and drug charges in Manhattan County Court after a jury trial. He was sentenced to six years of incarceration. He served his sentence and was released to the supervision of parole in the Spring of 2023.
In August of 2023, a vehicle Williams was driving was stopped for a traffic violation and the witness that had previously identified him as related to the shooting was in the passenger seat. He was brought to Schenectady City Court to be arraigned on the homicide charges and the witness’s testimony for a pretrial hearing was secured by a subpoena. Williams was subsequently indicted for Murder in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree.
The first time since the March 17, 2016 homicide that both of their whereabouts were simultaneously known to law enforcement was August 2023, which was the primary factor in the more than seven-year delay between the killing of Lee and the Defendant’s indictment.
Williams exercised his right not to testify at trial. The defense argued that Williams was not the killer, an argument the jury rejected by finding the People proved beyond reasonable doubt Williams had killed Lee by shooting him while having an intent to seriously injure Lee.
After the verdict, Judge Sypniewski remanded Williams pending sentencing proceedings. Sentencing is scheduled to occur on February 11, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. in Schenectady County Court. Williams faces a maximum sentence of twenty-five (25) years of incarceration to be followed by up to five years of Post Release Supervision (commonly referred to as parole) for the Manslaughter charge. Williams also faces a maximum sentence of fifteen (15) years on the weapon charge, though that sentence must run concurrently to the manslaughter sentence.
The case was investigated by the Schenectady Police Department and Schenectady District Attorney’s Office Investigators.
District Attorney Robert Carney stated, “Assistant District Attorney Michael Nobles and his trial team distinguished themselves in bringing this difficult eight plus year old case to a successful verdict. While we believe and argued that firing five times at his victim was evidence of his intent to kill, we understand that the jury may have considered that only two of the rounds hit him in his lower body, which might indicate an intent only to injure, thus manslaughter. We believe the verdict here was fair and we thank the jury for its careful consideration of the evidence presented by Assistant District Attorney Nobles.”
The People are represented by Assistant District Attorney Michael Nobles and Assistant District Attorney Ritchie Assini. Williams is represented by attorney Earl Raynor.