WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – A man was found shot to death next to an ATV behind a Winter Garden home on Thursday, sparking an investigation into his death, according to the police department.
In a release, police said they responded to a home on Horizon Street around 3:51 p.m. after receiving reports about a shooting behind the home.
Upon arrival, officers found a man — identified as 32-year-old Ja’Keem DeShun Williams — lying next to his ATV, though he was ultimately declared dead by medical personnel, the release shows.
“Investigators arrived on the scene and determined that there was a disturbance in reference to an ongoing issue with subjects riding motorcycles in the apartment complex, and a subject had fired a gun at the motorcyclist,” the release reads.
An arrest affidavit said that prior to the shooting, the leasing office manager called in a complaint that someone was riding an ATV back and forth near the leasing office of Bay Point Apartments.
Police said evidence points to Ralph Hensel, 57, as the suspect. Hensel has been arrested and is accused of first-degree murder by police. Police said no one else was involved.
According to an arrest affidavit, witnesses said Hensel had walked from the leasing office area toward Williams and shouted at him before two shots rang out.
Surveillance video showed Hensel had “walked from the leasing office with his firearm, walked around a nearby building, lying in wait,” the affidavit said, before shooting Williams as he rode by.
“The suspect walked back toward the office saying, ‘I killed him,’” the affidavit reads.
Crime scene tape blocked off the yard as detectives gathered evidence, including towing away the four-wheeler believed to have been driven by Williams.
When News 6 returned to the Bay Pointe Apartments Friday, we knocked on the apartment listed on Hensel’s arrest affidavit. The woman who answered the door confirmed she lived there, as well. She also confirmed she was the leasing office manager who had called police about Williams on Thursday.
She declined to reveal anything else, saying her employer advised her not to speak publicly about the incident.
News 6 also spoke with another woman who often visits her family in the apartment complex. Although she asked that News 6 withhold her name, she did speak on camera about a previous encounter between Hensel and Williams.
She explained that two weeks ago, she saw and heard Hensel complaining about Williams’ riding on the ATV.
She said he was talking about calling the police. A short time later, she said, officers arrived and approached Williams. She said the interaction between police and Williams was short, respectful, and ended with Williams riding away.
News 6 has reached out to the police department for more information about any possible previous encounters with either Williams or Hensel, and is awaiting response.
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