Pottstown teen to be tried as adult in home invasion murder

A Pottstown teenager faces homicide charges in the mistaken-identity killing of a woman during a violent home invasion last month.

Carmen Williams, 17, was arrested Friday and charged with criminal homicide in the death of Sylvia Williams, who was shot in the head by another teen during the incident, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

Williams, who is not related to the victim, initially had been charged with robbery and conspiracy in the death of the 38-year-old, whose house he and and Aaron Joseph Taylor allegedly targeted under the mistaken belief it belonged to a “big drug dealer.”

He and Taylor, 18, were arrested Nov 19. Taylor was charged with second- and third-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy, and other crimes, authorities said.

On Nov. 18, officials said, the teens pushed into Sylvia Williams' home on North Washington Street around 6:30 p.m., while a maintenance worker was changing the lock on the front door. One of them pointed a gun at the repairman and told him to stay put, then forced him into the kitchen, according to the criminal complaint.

Williams and her boyfriend, Aries Rumley Sr., 36, were in a bedroom upstairs when they heard yelling. Rumley headed downstairs to see what was going on, and soon saw an armed and masked man. He returned to the second-floor bedroom and shut the door, holding it tight with his feet.

The robbers followed him upstairs, tried to force the door, and then fired through it.

The criminal complaint says Rumley heard one shot, "then noticed Sylvia Williams was not moving and was bleeding from her head."

The complaint said Carmen Williams later told police that he saw Taylor fire.

Williams will be tried as an adult in the case and remained in custody Friday at the county jail.