Man agrees to serve 37 years in prison for Discovery Bay homicide, shooting paramedics

Man agrees to serve 37 years in prison for Discovery Bay homicide, shooting paramedics

MARTINEZ — A Stockton man has agreed to a copious amount of felony convictions and a 37-year prison sentence to settle charges related to a 2021 crime spree that included a homicide, authorities said.

Darryon Williams, 29, pleaded no contest to several felony counts, including involuntary manslaughter, carjacking, evading police, and multiple counts of assault with a firearm and attempted murder, court records show. He is scheduled to be sentenced to 37 years behind bars in late July.

Williams shot and killed 64-year-old Michael Iliff, a Discovery Bay resident who had allowed Williams’ then-4-year-old son and the child’s mother to stay in his home, police said at the time.

“He tried to help people, probably a little too much,” Iliff’s sister told KCBS at the time.

After killing Iliff, Williams drove to Antioch and opened fire at a group of paramedics tending to an unrelated emergency. Authorities said the attack appeared to be random. Two paramedics were struck in the legs and survived.

Williams trial was set and canceled several times after a preliminary hearing in 2022. Last April, he agreed to the plea deal, court records show. He has been in jail since his arrest in February 2021, and remains there while awaiting formal sentencing, set for July 23.