Police identify mother, toddler killed on Easter Sunday
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Police have released the identities of a mother and her young son who were choked to death on Easter Sunday.
Gwinnett County police were called out to a home on Tybee Drive in Buford late Sunday night. Police said a man said his son, identified as 32-year-old Brandon Williams, had choked a 2-year-old boy, Cole Nation, and his 30-year-old mother, Natalie Nation, inside the house they all shared.
The suspect's father, Austin Williams, was working on a vehicle outside when he said his son walked past him, heading to a nearby gas station. The dad went into the home, discovered his girlfriend and her son, and called police.
Responding officers quickly picked up Williams at the RaceTrac located on Highway 20.
Paramedics rushed both Nations and her son to Gwinnett Medical Center, where both victims passed away.
A family friend said a man who choked a mother and son to death on Easter Sunday had mental issues.
Detectives have no motive for the crime, but family friend Brent Lenz said Williams had mental issues. Lenz was at the shared home Easter night and said Williams was wearing a mask and acting unstable.
"He was mentally messed up and he had demons in his head. He attacked her one time before. He would taunt her and he choked her and blackened her out, then revived her." Lenz said.
Gwinnett police and the Gwinnett sheriff's office told FOX 5 they have responded to the home several times before. In fact, police reports indicate Williams had been in and out of jail and the hospital for some time. He was arrested for allegedly obstructing law enforcement, involuntary committal, suspected DUI and failure to appear in court.
Mr. Lenz believes Gwinnett police could have done more.
"Last week he had been in the neighbor's house looking in their windows and cars. The neighbors called the cops and Bellsouth called the cops. As soon as the cops come, it takes 5 cops to get him on the ground and two tazers. They just took him to Summer Ridge for the weekend and he gets out," Mr. Lenz complained.
Police said the suspect's father is the best witness they have at piecing together how something like this could happen.
Williams was taken to the Gwinnett County detention center where he remains without bond.