The Following is a Press Release from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
The second of two defendants in a prom-night shooting in Bristol Township is headed to state prison. Gary Goddard, 49, of Bristol Township, was sentenced Thursday to 12 ½ to 25 years for his role in the May 4, 2018, incident in the township’s Winder Village section that left two men dead.
A Bucks County jury convicted Goddard after a three-week trial earlier this year of the attempted murder of a 19-year-old. “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. Though Goddard’s shot found its mark, medical examination showed McDuffie died of a gunshot wound inflicted by a separate shooter
Goddard was also convicted of firing another shot that entered a home occupied by a mother and young child. Immediately prior to the shooting, neighbors and friends had been gathered outside taking photos of neighborhood children ahead of their high school prom.
The scene turned deadly when a hail of bullets fired by Joseph Williams punctuated a fight between neighborhood rivals. Among the teens in Winder Village that evening was Goddard’s son, whom Goddard testified at trial he was attempting to protect when he shot McDuffie.
Noting the evidence against Goddard was “abundant and overwhelming,” Judge Alan M. Rubenstein rejected the defendant’s explanation of the events. “I understand, on some level, wanting to defend your son,” the judge said. “But that’s not what happened here. You knew what you were doing. This did not happen in a moment of panic for you.”
Evidence at trial showed Goddard was standing over McDuffie when he shot the young man, who lay bleeding to death. Sentenced previously in the case, 19-year-old Williams is serving two life sentences for the killings of McDuffie and Tommy Ballard, also 19, during the same incident. The case was investigated by Bristol Township Police and Bucks County Detectives, and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Antonetta Stancu along with Deputy District Attorney Thomas C. Gannon.