Man Pleads Guilty in Whitehaven Murder
Jan. 24, 2022 – A Memphis man has pled guilty in a shooting at a Whitehaven motel in which he killed a woman bystander and wounded a man who had tried to intervene in an argument, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.
Angelos Santell Washington, 41, pled guilty Friday in Criminal Court to second-degree murder, aggravated assault and two counts of assault. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility for parole.
The incident happened around noon on Sept. 4, 2019, outside of the Budget Host Motel in the 2700 block of Airways Blvd.
Witnesses said Washington, who was in a wheelchair, was harassing a 48-year-old woman when Martez Ingram, 28, confronted him to get him to stop. Washington cursed the man, pulled a handgun and fired several times.
Paula Foster, 59, who was standing nearby, was struck two times in the back and died later at a hospital. One of the bullets passed through her and struck Ingram in the chest. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but survived his injury.
Police arrested Washington in his wheelchair a short time later in the 2200 block of Democrat Road, and confiscated the handgun used in the shooting.
The case was handled by Senior Felony Asst. Danielle McCollum and by Asst. Dist. Atty. Eric Walton of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 1 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 7 (Veteran’s Court) and in Criminal Court Division 1.