July 16, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Latif Williams, 19, was found guilty in February of fatally shooting Temple University student Sam Collington on Nov. 28, 2021. Williams was sentenced Tuesday to spend 25 to 50 years in state prison.
The man convicted of fatally shooting 21-year-old Temple University student Sam Collington in late 2021 was sentenced Tuesday to spend 25 to 50 years in state prison.
Latif Williams, 19, was found guilty of third-degree murder and related offenses at his trial in February.
The shooting happened Nov. 28, 2021, on the 2200 block of Park Avenue, just north of the Temple's main campus. Collington was returning to school from Thanksgiving break and removing belongings from his mother's SUV when Williams, who was 17 at the time, attempted a carjacking. After a brief struggle, Williams shot Collington twice in the chest, police said. Collington died a short time later at Temple University Hospital.
Williams surrendered to police three days after the shooting.
Collington, of Prospect Park, Delaware County, was a senior set to graduate with a degree in political science from Temple's College of Liberal Arts. He was the president of the university's Political Science Society and had interned in the office of Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir. He also was an Eagle Scout who enjoyed fishing and the outdoors.
Investigators said the attempted carjacking and shooting were caught on surveillance video. Williams was identified using partial fingerprints from a vehicle he was seen touching in the video, prosecutors said.
Williams previously had been arrested in August 2021 for allegedly carrying out another gunpoint carjacking, court documents show. That case was dropped after a key witness failed to show up to a court hearing, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
The killing was one of several crimes around Temple's campus that prompted the university to create a series of initiatives to improve safety and coordination with Philadelphia police. The university hired former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to conduct an audit of its operations and rolled out a new personal safety app for students to report suspicious activity and request security escorts.
The university also increased the number campus police patrolling on foot and bikes, added more surveillance cameras around campus and developed a program for students to identify off-campus housing options within the boundaries of Temple's patrol zone.
In addition to his prison term, Williams was sentenced to five years of probation after his release.
