Fiancée describes Houston's shooting

ADRIANE JAECKLE / STAFF Nedra Jones of Bordeaux had planned to marry Willie Houston but now is preparing to attend his funeral this weekend.

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

Willie Houston was shot with his hands in the air, raising his palms in front of his chest and reasoning with the gunman: ''Man, we had a good time, and I'm just ready to go home and go to bed.''

The man fired anyway, sending a fatal bullet to Houston's chest.

That's how Houston's fiancée, Nedra Jones, recalled details yesterday of the shooting early Sunday morning in the Opry Mills parking lot.

Jones, Houston and two friends had gone on a midnight cruise on the General Jackson showboat sponsored by radio station 92Q. When the boat docked, Houston helped his blind companion into a rest room, and that's where the trouble began.

Investigators have said that the gunman met Houston, 38, an MTA bus driver, in the rest room and taunted him because he was leading his friend with one arm and holding Jones' purse over the other. Jones had asked Houston to look after it before the friend asked him for help going into the men's room.

Police said the man made anti-homosexual remarks toward Houston in the rest room but wouldn't disclose what they believe was said.

Jones said she doesn't know what happened in the rest room.

She was engaged to marry Houston in two weeks but now is preparing for his funeral. The assailant had tried to provoke him and was frustrated because Houston was not looking for a fight, she said.

''Not one harsh word did he say to him, because that's not Willie,'' she said. The man, she believes, became even more angry because he couldn't provoke Houston. She also thinks he was under the influence of something.

''He looked like he was on something,'' Jones said. ''I don't know if he was drunk or on drugs, but he didn't look normal.''

Metro police have identified the man as Lewis Maynard Davidson III, 25, whose last known address was 14th Avenue North. Police were still searching for him yesterday and had received many calls from people who were on the boat and from others who said they know where Davidson is, Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said.

Jones said Houston had just come out of the rest room with the two men when he told her: ''There's some guys in the rest room making fun because I had the purse and (the friend) on my arm.''

The gunman, she said, stayed with them and spoke again before Jones interrupted and said, ''Now, you don't have to talk to him like that.''

''Don't worry about it, you fat b…h,'' she quoted him as telling her.

Houston jumped in and asked the man to respect her, she said.

''Man, I had a good time on the boat, and we're just ready to go,'' Jones quoted her fiancé as telling the man. However, the man again called Jones fat as Houston tried to calm him.

''I've got something for you in my car,'' Jones said the man told them. ''I've got something for all you, something to take your whole clan out.''

The man walked away and Jones turned to tell her two friends goodbye before hearing a voice.

''Now what you got to say?'' he asked, pointing a gun at Houston.

The two women screamed for security to help.

Houston held his hands up and explained that he just wanted to go home, but the man fired and fled the scene. It was about 3:10 a.m. Houston grabbed his knees, Jones said, and gasped for breath.

''I called him and then lowered him down,'' she said. ''He said he couldn't breathe.''

Jones' female friend put pressure on Houston's wound to stop the bleeding.

''Just remember, I will always love you,'' Houston told his fiancée moments before paramedics took him away. He died in surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Services for Houston, who was an AccessRide program bus driver for MTA's special needs customers, are scheduled for Saturday in his hometown of Chicago. Gatling's Funeral Home is in charge.

While police said Davidson leveled homosexual insults at Houston in the rest room, they stopped short of saying the shooting could be classified as a hate crime. ''The investigation is still very much open, and at this point in the case, we haven't established Davidson's motive for shooting Houston,'' Aaron said. He noted that others on the boat related that Davidson had been obnoxious to others during the cruise.

Jones doesn't know what his motive was. She hopes people with information will come forward to catch the killer. ''He stopped a dream that was going to come true,'' she said. ''Our dream. He put a stop to that.''