Canton, MI: Police ID victim, shooter in Canton murder-suicide

By Brad Kadrich and Darrell Clem
Observer Staff Writers

A 33-year-old Canton woman was shot and killed, apparently by her husband, who turned the gun on himself in an apparent murder-suicide at the Canton Public Library Tuesday morning.

Canton Police say they responded to numerous calls about shots being fired in the parking lot around 9:16 a.m. and arrived to find the woman and her 36-year-old husband suffering from gunshot wounds.

The woman, identified as Patricia Catherine Williams, was transported to Annapolis Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The man, identified as Edward Gordon Williams II, was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Ypsilanti, where police said he was placed on life support pending organ harvesting.

Canton Police Sgt. Mark Gajeski said the Patricia Williams was “shot at least twice” with a revolver.

“She was shot at least once in the head,” Gajeski said. ““He apparently then turned the gun on himself and shot himself once in the head.”

Gajeski said it didn’t appear as though anyone else had been injured. The Canton Library, located directly across the street from the Canton Police Department, closed its doors following the incident.

The couple, who lived on Wall Street, were no strangers to the police. Gajeski said police had been called to their home before on domestic calls, once as recently as last weekend.

Witnesses told the police Patricia Williams “was trying to get away from him,” Gajeski said. She had reportedly been traveling to the Canton Police Department at the time of the shooting. Police did not know how she’d ended up in the library parking lot.

Patricia Williams’ BMW and Edward Williams’ Dodge Charger were both still in the parking lot at the library. Police were searching the Charger.

According to Gajeski, both Williamses were members of the Detroit Police Department. She had been with the department for 15 years, he said; he didn’t say how long the husband had been with the department.

Patricia Williams is survived by a 10-year-old son from a previous marriage.