CASSELBERRY, Florida—The teenager accused of opening fire at the Light-Up Eustis event in 2020 is in the Seminole County Jail, accused of pushing an elderly woman to the ground and snatching her purse, according to affidavit filed by Casselberry Police Department in Seminole County earlier this month.
Brycen Williams, 19, is accused of following a 76-year-old woman out of a device repair store on Howell Branch Road in Casselberry, pushing her to the ground and snatching her purse around 6:45 p.m. Dec. 30. The elderly woman suffered cuts to her thumb and arm and was bleeding when Casselberry Police Department (CPD) arrived; Seminole County Fire Rescue responded and rendered aid to the woman.
The woman was unable to identify Williams, but the repair store showed police video surveillance and two witnesses came forward and stated they saw Williams standing over the victim, pick something up and run, They tried to follow him and observed a black female throw an item toward a restaurant dumpster in the same plaza, the affidavit states.
CPD searched the area by the dumpster and found the victim’s purse, missing her phone, bank card and food stamp card.
The following week, the repair store and a neighboring restaurant provided the video showing the purse snatching to police and CPD released the video to local news outlets. A woman who identified herself as Williams’ cousin told police he was the robber. She told police she wanted to clear her name “since she was with Williams,” the affidavit states.
The woman said she confronted Williams about the attack, and he was “nonchalant” and laughed it off, stating, he was not worried about going to jail because the police did not know who he is. Williams was arrested Jan. 5 for robbery by sudden snatching, battery on a person over 65 and petit theft and is being held in the Seminole County Jail on $21,000 bond.
In January 2021, Williams was arrested for aggravated battery with a firearm, shooting into an occupied vehicle, aggravated battery with a firearm-great bodily harm and five counts of aggravated assault with a firearm after a woman was shot in the arm at Light-Up Eustis Nov. 27, 2020. The charges were later dropped after “the identifying victim substantially changed their testimony and is unable to identify the defendant,” a document filed by the state attorney’s office states. It is unknown which victim changed their testimony.
