Athens man unhappy with weed purchase shot his dealer

David Ray Wilhelm

By Joe Johnson

David Wilhelm argued over the phone with his dealer about the quantity and quality of weed he had bought, and a few days later he shot the dealer multiple times.

That’s the scenario spelled out in recently filed court documents for an aggravated assault that

happened the night of January 26th on a sidewalk along Nellie B Avenue.

According to police and court records, Wilhelm was upset about a purchase he made from his longtime marijuana supplier and he’d been looking for him.

In calls to the man’s mother he reportedly warned that her son “was in trouble.”

As he lay wounded on the sidewalk, the victim told police that the man who shot him was a customer named “Will” and the phone number he had for the suspect was Wilhelm’s.

The 54-year-old Fairview Street resident later confirmed that the shooter was Wilhelm from a photo that investigators showed him.

Police said they retrieved security camera footage of the shooting from the Triangle Plaza shopping center at Nellie B Avenue and Fairview Street,

Wilhelm, 51, of West Broad Street, was arrested a month after the incident and on March 18th he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges when arraigned in Superior Court in May.

Judge Eric Norris last month granted Wilhelm $7,500 bail made conditional on him wearing an ankle monitor and undergoing mental health evaluation and treatment.