COLLIN COUNTY, Texas —
A man who fled after committing a crime during his trial for a 2021 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon has died by suicide this week, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office says.
Carlton Williams, 35, of Cedar Hill, was on trial last month for a road rage incident that took place on Aug. 29, 2021. Police said Williams was driving a large white box truck when he nearly sideswiped a person driving on the Dallas North Tollway.
Police said Williams turned aggressive, chasing down the victim for several minutes. As the victim was stopped at a red light in Plano, Williams reportedly exited his truck, banged on the victim’s window and threatened the victim with a machete he grabbed from his vehicle, police said.
Williams also slashed the victim’s front and rear passenger tires with the machete.
Plano police said Williams’ behavior was seen by several people before he fled the scene and was later captured.
According to court documents, Williams was coined “machete man” and had been out on $35,000 surety bond for the aggravated assault charge -- when he did not appear in court on March 22, 2023, for the third day of his jury trial.
While on the run that day, the Duncanville Police Department said Williams was involved in a road rage shooting in the city, and then fled from that scene “while armed and dangerous.”
In a news release Friday, Collin County DA Greg Willis confirmed Williams allegedly shot at a relative.
Despite his absence from his trial, a Collin County jury found Williams guilty of the 2021 crime and sentenced him under the Texas Habitual Offender statute to 43 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after hearing testimony and evidence of three additional road rage incidents.
Due to his failure to appear in court, the judge in the case, Faith Johnson, issued a warrant for Williams’ arrest and contacted the Texas Rangers and special agents of the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate him.
The agents said Williams was found at an acquaintance's apartment at the North Court Villas in the 8200 block of Stonebrook Parkway in Frisco around 3 p.m. Monday, April 10. The Frisco Police Department was called in to assist.
According to a news release by Frisco police, officers said Williams refused to surrender and barricaded himself inside the apartment. At 3:30 p.m., the department said crisis negotiators began to communicate with Williams "in an attempt to resolve the incident peacefully."
Negotiators said Williams’ behavior turned more erratic and he began making statements that “he would kill anyone who came to the front door.”
Frisco police said Williams refused to cooperate and various “less-than-lethal tactics” were used in a continued effort to get him to surrender.
The Frisco UAV team also used drones to monitor and communicate with Williams. But police said Williams destroyed two of the drones and began firing gunshots recklessly at officers, striking other apartments in the process.
Around 9:40 p.m. that night, the Frisco Police Special Operations Unit deployed a round of chemical agents into the apartment, and at the same time, used a controlled explosive to breach a bedroom door. Police said seconds after the breach, they heard a single gunshot from inside the bathroom attached to the bedroom.
A drone was used to find Williams inside the bathroom. Police said he was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was transported to a local hospital, where he later died from that injury.
The Collin County District Attorney’s Office thanked the Frisco Fire Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Plano Police Department for their help in locating Williams.
"I want to thank both the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Frisco Police Department for their dogged pursuit of this dangerous fugitive. Their relentless efforts and professional approach kept our citizens safe from further harm at the hands of this violent felon,” Willis said.
