A 19-year-old man was sentenced for shooting and killing a 21-year-old Temple University student in 2021.
On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, a judge sentenced 19-year-old Latif Williams to 25 to 50 years in prison for the murder of Samuel Collington as well as a separate carjacking that occurred ten days before Collington's death.
After the verdict, Collington's mother, Molly Collington, thanked Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, as well as the investigators in the case.
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"We want to thank Joanne Pescatore for all of her hard work," she said. "We would also like to thank Detective Murray for solving the case and bringing Sam's killer in."
Williams -- who was 17-years-old at the time of the murder -- was found guilty back in February of third-degree murder and gun charges.
Collington, a Delaware County native, was shot in the chest during a carjacking outside his college apartment on the 2200 block of North Park Avenue back on Nov. 28, 2021.
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Molly Collington said her son had just returned to North Philadelphia from his Delaware County home that day with clean laundry following Thanksgiving weekend.
She called her son's murder a "horrible injustice" and a "travesty like you have no idea" during an interview with NBC10. She also said she'd do anything to bring the person responsible to justice.
"This senseless act crushes us," Molly Collington said.
NBC10 learned Williams was previously charged with carjacking a victim at gunpoint back in August 2021 though the victim was not harmed. A spokesperson for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office told NBC10 they were forced to withdraw charges against Williams in that incident because a key witness never showed up to court.
Collington was a senior political science student at Temple, the university said. He was set to graduate in the spring of 2022 from the College of Liberal Arts.
“We are encouraged by an arrest of a suspect in the death of Sam Collington," Temple said in a statement at the time of his murder. "It is our hope that this is the start of healing for his family and the Temple community. Gun violence is an epidemic; it’s a complex, national issue plaguing both the country and Philadelphia. We must stay vigilant in working with our community partners on identifying solutions to this crisis."
Collington was also a fellow in the office of the City Commissioner.
“Samuel was an incredibly talented and engaged young man,” City Commissioner Omar Sabir wrote at the time of his death. “During his brief time with our office, Samuel exemplified an incredible passion for engaging voters and was an indispensable member of our team. Sam’s death is a tremendous loss for the City Commissioners and all who knew him.”
During victim impact statements at Williams' trial, Collington's father, Dennis Collington, talked about what his son could have become if his life wasn't taken away from him.
"A scholar. A lawyer. A senator. His future was bright. This defendant extinguished that bright future," Dennis Collington said. "We are serving a life sentence. A life without Sam."
Dennis Collington asked the judge to, "send a message that parents can send students back to school. That they will be safe."
Williams, meanwhile, apologized to Collington's loved ones during the trial.
"I apologize to the family. I pray day and night that they forgive me," Williams said. "In Sam's honor, I will be a better person in life for him."
Advocates for Williams also appeared in court during the trial and disagreed with the judge's sentencing.
"It's not consistent with other sentences we've seen, especially for 16-year-olds, and it's not consistent with what the Supreme Court and social science has said about adolescent brain development, rehabilitation and public safety," Emily Robb of the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, said.
Pescatore, meanwhile, called the deadly shooting a "brutal case" that "terrorized" Temple's community as well as the city of Philadelphia.
"He's 19-years-old," she said. "He has a long time to think about what he did and hopefully come out of jail a better and different person."
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
