Camden Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Two Carjackings in South Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Zamer Williams, 20, of Camden, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 10 years' imprisonment and five years of supervised release by United States District Judge Anita B. Brody for carrying out two carjackings in November of 2023.

In April 2024, Williams was charged by superseding indictment with two counts of carjacking and one count of carrying, using, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to the commission of a crime of violence. He pleaded guilty to those offenses in December 2024.

As detailed in the superseding indictment and other public filings, on November 11, 2023, at approximately 9 p.m., the first victim, an Uber driver, was picking up a passenger at the Ikea on Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia. The driver had briefly stepped out of his vehicle, a 2016 Mazda CX-5, when the defendant and another person approached him, demanding his car keys at gunpoint. The victim handed over his keys and the defendant and his accomplice fled the scene in the victim's vehicle. The victim borrowed an Ikea worker's phone and called 911.

Two days later, on November 13, 2023, the second victim entered the Wawa on Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia, leaving her car running. When she observed the defendant getting into the driver seat of her vehicle, a 2016 Ford Fusion SE, she went outside to confront him. The defendant drove the victim's car away from the Wawa, with the victim holding onto the driver's side door. After hanging on for about 10 feet, the victim let go and the defendant fled in her car.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kwambina I. Coker and Robert E. Eckert.

Note: the posting of this press release was delayed, due to the federal government shutdown from October 1, 2025, to November 12, 2025.