Habitual Criminal Sentenced to 16 Years in Shooting Case

Arrested by the Northern Nevada Repeat Offender Program

45-year-old Bret Williams (dob 3/27/79) has been sentenced to 16 years in prison with parole eligibility after serving more than 6 years, after pleading guilty to one count of Discharging a Firearm into an Occupied Residence and one count of Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm. The Honorable Judge Scott Freeman imposed the sentence. 

In early May of last year, officers with the Reno Police Department responded to a home on Thoma Street for a shooting. Williams had fired a gun into the home, which was occupied by multiple people. During the investigation, police were able to watch surveillance video from the home that showed Williams had gotten into an argument with another man over a woman. The defendant left the house, retrieved a gun, and then returned where he shot multiple rounds through the front door.

A few weeks later, detectives with the Northern Nevada Repeat Offender Program (ROP) saw Williams walking in town and arrested him for the shooting, which Williams later confessed to.

During sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Nathan MacLellan argued that the gun laws in the State of Nevada are designed to keep firearms out of the hands of people like Williams, whose criminal records includes multiple, prior felony convictions.  MacLellan asked Judge Freeman to send a message to the community and this Defendant specifically, that this conduct will not be tolerated in Washoe County and to do so by giving him the maximum sentence allowed by law. 

The Washoe County District Attorney’ s Office works closely with ROP.  Detectives with the Reno Police Department, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, and Sparks Police Department are assigned to this unit and work with prosecutors to secure successful prosecutions involving habitual criminals.