Murder charge filed in downtown killing

18-year-old Topekan may face additional felony counts

Prosecutors on Thursday filed a first-degree murder charge against a Topeka man accused of shooting and killing another man outside a Lawrence nightclub after a hip-hop show.

Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson’s office filed one charge of premeditated first-degree murder against Rashawn T. Anderson, 18, and said more charges could be coming. The Feb. 5 shooting outside the Granada, 1020 Mass., killed 46-year-old Robert E. Williams and injured a 22-year-old man.

Williams’ widow, LaTonia Coleman, on Thursday expressed gratitude to police for their work on the case.

“The detectives, they’ve done a wonderful job,” she said. “I just greatly appreciate it. : I went and bought balloons for the detectives and a card.”

So far, Anderson is charged only with murder, and prosecutors would not say Thursday whether he is suspected of shooting the person who was injured.

“There’s potential for another serious felony charge,” Assistant Dist. Atty. Brenda Clary told District Court Judge Pro Tem Peggy Kittel.

Clary requested that Anderson’s bond be doubled to $1 million, but Kittel kept it at $500,000.

Olin said investigators were led to Anderson last week but there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him until Wednesday. Police set up surveillance in Topeka and arrested Anderson after a traffic stop.

Olin said police came into contact with gang members during the investigation, but that he didn’t know whether Anderson was a gang member. And he said the shooting itself was not gang-related.

In the days after the shooting, Coleman told the Journal-World a stranger had shot her husband after the stranger interjected himself in a family dispute about money that began inside the club and continued outside the club.

Olin said Coleman’s version “would fit roughly within what we believe occurred.”

He said police were certain that Williams was the intended target, but that police were still investigating other details of what happened outside the club, including the exact chronology of events and the motive.

“This is not over,” he said.

Olin said police followed more than 200 leads, and that nearly a dozen agencies in Missouri, Colorado and Kansas helped with the investigation. He said the Topeka Police Department was “very helpful” in identifying witnesses to the shooting and conducting surveillance.

Anderson is due to appear in court Thursday to schedule a preliminary hearing.