Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A man will spend the next 12 ½ to 25 years in prison for his role in a Winder Village double shooting that rocked Bristol Township.
Gary Goddard, 49, of Bristol Township, was sentenced Thursday by Bucks County Judge Alan Rubenstein. He was found guilty of attempted homicide in March following a trial.
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Goddard and Joseph Williams, 18, of Bristol Township, fired shots following long-simmering dispute between groups of young people from the township’s Bloomsdale-Fleetwing and Winder Village sections.
Zyisean “Ziggy” McDuffie, 19, and Tommy Ballard, 19, were killed following a shooting outside a home in the 900 block Elmhurst Avenue on the evening of Friday, May 4, 2018. The evening shooting took place as families were outside celebrating Harry S. Truman High School’s sophomore and junior prom.
Bullets fired by Williams were found to have caused the deaths of the two men. Goddard stood over an already-wounded McDuffie and fired a bullet into his head, but it did not kill him, authorities said.
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“Zyisean McDuffie was on his last moments when Mr. Goddard decided to put a bullet in his head like he was an animal on the side of the road,” said Deputy District Attorney Antonetta Stancu.
Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
Bullets from Goddard’s gun also were found to have hit a house where there were children and adults.
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Goddard’s son, also named Gary, and Williams were on one side of the argument and McDuffie, Ballard and Jahmier Wilson, also known as Man Montana, were on the other. Wilson was not shot.
Goddard testified during the final days of the trial that he was protecting his son.
“I understand, on some level, wanting to defend your son,” the judge said of Thursday. “But that’s not what happened here. You knew what you were doing. This did not happen in a moment of panic for you.”
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Williams was guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and attempted homicide. He was sentenced to life in prison.
