An Alabama man has been sentenced to life in prison after fatally shooting a hotel owner following an argument over checking into a room. At his sentence, the owner’s daughter expressed her anguish to her father’s killer, telling him that he “annihilated the foundation of our entire family,” according to reports.
“You turned our lives into a permanent crime scene,” Pravin Patel’s daughter yelled in court on Thursday, staring directly at 34-year-old William Moore, according to local NBC station WAFF.
Moore was convicted of murder in Colbert County after shooting Patel three times in the face and chest during a disagreement over an attempted check-in, according to WAFF. Moore brandished a firearm at Patel after attempting to book a room at the Hillcrest Motel in Sheffield, which Patel owned.
Moore fired multiple rounds at Patel after being told he was trespassing, with a barbershop employee across the street witnessing the assault and telling WAFF, “It was pretty consecutive, pow, pow, pow.”
Patel attempted to persuade Moore to leave his motel after they began bickering. Moore shot him just before departing, according to reports. Surveillance footage revealed at Moore’s trial depicted the incident and the events leading up to it.
“We had clear video of the actual incident in and of itself,” Colbert County Assistant District Attorney Summer George told WAFF last month, following Moore’s conviction. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Patel family.” What they’ve had to go through this week just to watch the video. It was difficult for them not just physically, but also emotionally.
Moore stated at his sentence that he has PTSD from his military service and a dark past, according to WAFF. He was apparently destitute and lived in the woods before to the shooting.
“We will serve a life sentence of grief because of your choice,” Patel’s daughter concluded.
