College student killed by stray bullet was on ‘dream trip’ to NYC, dad says
By Tamar Lapin
New York Post
October 24, 2020
The young visitor from Indiana who was killed by a stray bullet in Brooklyn early Saturday would have wanted his shooter to know “he’s already forgiven them,” his devastated dad told The Post.
Ethan Williams, a 20-year-old college student from Indianapolis had been on a “dream trip” to New York and was sitting on a stoop with a group of friends outside their Airbnb in Bushwick when he was shot in the chest around 2:30 a.m.
Police believe he was an unintended target of gunfire that came at the group from more than 200 feet away.
The shooter dropped his gun at the scene, law enforcement sources told The Post.
“Ethan would have wanted the shooter to know he’s already forgiven them,” his father, Jason Williams, said in a phone interview on Saturday night.
“He would have wanted to be his friend.”
Ethan spent his life trying to give back to others, including by doing missionary work with orphans in Rwanda while in high school, the dad said.
While in high school, Ethan also started an LGBTQ club, though he wasn’t gay, because he was tired of seeing his classmates get bullied, his dad said.
“It’s hard to express how much he loved everybody,” Williams said. “He did not know a stranger.”
As just a third-grader, Ethan stood up for another child being pushed around on their school bus, telling his parent “I don’t like to see other kids marginalized,” his dad recalled.
A sophomore in the film media program Indiana University, Ethan “wanted people’s stories to be told.”
He had a stint on the mayor’s youth council in Indianapolis, where he worked on such issues as poverty and violence, and was considering a career in journalism, Williams said.
“He said people shouldn’t be defined by their worst moments,” the distraught dad said.
“He wanted to make the world a better place.”
At just 3 or 4 years old, Ethan became “obsessed” with the Big Apple after watching “Spider-Man,” and had dreamed of coming for a visit.
Stressed out by his studies this fall, he decided to finally come into town to film skateboarding videos and spend time with his best friends, his dad said.
“He was so excited to see New York. He wanted to meet people like he’d seen on TV,” Williams said.
The group had gotten into the city on Thursday and planned to be in town until Monday or Tuesday — but tragedy struck.
“They felt like they were grown ups and they found this place and felt they’d be fine,” Williams said.
“It was just wrong place, wrong time.”
The family, including Ethan’s mother and younger brother and sister, are “utterly broken,” Williams said.
He thanked the NYPD for its sensitivity, adding he expects Ethan’s body to sent back to Indianapolis by next week for the burial.
In a prepared statement, the family asked for anyone with information about the shooting of “our beautiful son” to come forward and help in the investigation.
“If he had the opportunity to say something to the shooter, we know that he would invite him for a cup of coffee and ask to hear their story,” the statement said.
“He would forgive without delay. Ethan always saw beyond the surface and took the time to help others feel seen, important and loved.
“The family appreciates the outpouring of support,” the statement concluded.
“We ask for privacy while we grieve and focus on figuring out what the world will look like without Ethan.”
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