If only the jurors could have been there — inside that Wal-Mart security office on Columbus Boulevard nearly a year ago — Gilbert Padilla said he’s convinced they would have convicted Raheym Williams, aka Jonathan Miller, of attempted murder.
Instead, the 28-year-old Williams — accused of gunning down the security guard — was found guilty Nov. 5 of aggravated assault and a weapons violation.
The convicted shooter faces up to 27 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 18. But that’s just the beginning for Williams, who has five open cases, including two shootings, a burglary and two carjackings, said Assistant District Attorney Jan McDermott of the Major Trials Unit. At the time of the Wal-Mart incident, Williams was already a wanted man. He eluded the law for almost two months after shooting Padilla, until U.S. marshals and local police nabbed him Jan. 14 inside a home on the 5200 block of Diamond Street in North Philly.
Like Padilla, McDermott would have preferred an attempted murder conviction in this case.
"I was disappointed because there was evidence from the victim and another security guard that the defendant said he was going to kill him," the prosecutor said. "I thought that made his intent pretty clear."
Padilla is not bitter over the verdict — just baffled. Because as far as the 39-year-old father of two is concerned, the shooter had every intention of taking his life Nov. 24, 2002.
Twice during the confrontation, Williams told Padilla he was going to kill him. "If that’s not attempted murder, I don’t know what attempted murder is. He was going to finish me off, but the gun jammed — thank God. He was squeezing away."
Even Padilla’s doctor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital told him how lucky he was to be alive after an ultrasound revealed the bullet missed Padilla’s heart by an inch. "I am blessed," he said.
At Miller’s eight-day trial, Padilla was forced to relive the nightmare.
"Ah man, it made me sick to my stomach just to see him all over again," the victim said. "I had to go through that ordeal all over again. It breaks you down because I almost lost my life."
When Padilla took the stand, he literally broke down. He received some support from an unexpected source — the defendant’s mother. She was in the courtroom with other family members, and made a point of hugging Padilla every day and apologizing for what her son did to him.
The drama unraveled around 10:30 a.m. on a busy Sunday after Padilla saw the defendant stuffing CDs into his coat pocket. The security guard stopped Williams as he exited the store.
As the guard escorted Williams into the security office, the suspect uttered, "F–you."
Once inside, Padilla told Williams to empty his pockets, which he did. The guard asked if he had anything else on him, to which the suspect replied, "Yeah, I got something else for you." And with that, Williams turned away from the guard, reached in his pocket and whipped out a gun, Padilla said.
The guard knew he was in trouble. He grabbed the suspect by the wrist and hoped he would just fire away from him.
In the ensuing struggle, both men hit the ground — Padilla on top of the suspect in what he described as a wrestling move.
Then, a rather interesting thing happened: The suspect dropped his magazine. Padilla thought he was safe, but to his horror, Williams had a second magazine. Now with his gun cocked and loaded, the shooter pumped out two bullets.
Padilla felt the first one enter his chest and exit with a "pop" out his back. The victim described the sensation of the bullet breaking his flesh as "real hot" and like somebody twisting a knife in his body.
At the moment he was struck, the first thing Padilla thought about was his mother, followed by his wife and 11-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter. Even today when he recalls the shooting, he thinks of them.
The second bullet grazed his ribs. Somehow, Padilla dislocated his shoulder in the struggle, for which he requires steroid shots on a regular basis to control the pain.
As he saw the blood gushing from his wounds, Padilla thought he was dying. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he managed to stagger to the door and open it before collapsing. "It was just the worst day of my life. I thought I was a goner, right there. I felt it whiz right by my heart. I knew it didn’t hit my heart. I was gasping for air."
Then, with TV cameras filming overhead, medics somehow dropped Padilla from a stretcher while wheeling him inside the ambulance. Reminded of the moment almost a year later, Padilla laughs and said he was too out of it to know what had happened.
Even more painful than the shooting was something Padilla experienced at the hospital afterwards. Doctors cut him open and inserted a tube — 3 inches wide — into the left side of his chest to help him breathe. "When they pulled it out, that was the worst pain I ever experienced in my life. I screamed! The pain was just unbelievable. I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was being shot all over again."
These days, Padilla rarely leaves the house except for physical therapy and to take his kids to school because he suffers from anxiety attacks and is still in pain. When he does, he wears a bulletproof vest. The former guard, who receives workers’ compensation, said he gets winded easily.
"I’m a wreck. I’m just a wreck mentally and physically," he said.
And then there are days when a shotgun — one of a few firearms he owns — does not leave his side. Since the shooting, he’s become paranoid and is even scared one of Williams’ friends will exact revenge. Padilla is seeing a psychiatrist to help him cope.
Even with all the lingering struggles, he said he appreciates life more since the shooting. "I’m just a different person now."
