SKC mourns loss of student athlete

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — In a shocking tragedy, 21-year-old Salish Kootenai College student Timothy I. Williams, known as Tim Wolfe, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on Saturday morning in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

According to police reports, Juan C. Aldana Villanueva, 22, of Post Falls was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the incident at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday at his place of employment, Rancho Viejo restaurant, in Post Falls.

Wolfe and his friends were at Mik n Mac’s bar when they were involved in a verbal altercation with the suspect.

A few hours later, at 2:17 a.m., Wolfe and his friends were walking in the area of Third and Indiana streets when Villanueva allegedly pulled up to them in his vehicle and fired one shot from a handgun, striking Wolfe in the head. The suspect immediately fled the area.

Wolfe was transported to Kootenai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The news struck the SKC community like a ton of bricks.  Disbelief overwhelmed Wolfe’s former teammates, coaches and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing the positive young man.

Basil Tanner, father of Wolfe’s teammate, Moss Tanner, was the last to see Wolfe on Friday before he left for Idaho.

Basil and his family had been housing Wolfe in Ronan since February.

“I asked him where he was headed and he said he was headed home,” Basil said.

“Why?” Basil asked.

Wolfe said he was going home for Mother’s Day and not to worry, he would see Basil and his family on Sunday night.

On Saturday morning, Basil answered the phone to the unimaginable news.   

Wolfe had a model character in the way he approached day-to-day life and basketball.

SKC Director of Student Life and Athletics Coordinator Juan Perez spent time with Wolfe on the Friday before the incident. Perez was the bearer of the harsh reality for many of Wolfe’s teammates.

“It’s hard to accept when you think about it. It’s like, ‘why this guy?’ Those of us who knew him well know he was someone who didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve it,” Perez said.

Wolfe was the guy who shook Perez’s hand every time he greeted him and the guy who often teased Perez about a play in a softball game to keep the mood light and friendly. He was the guy who took so much pride in his team he dressed up with a tie even when it wasn’t a team rule and he was the guy who found himself on the wrong end of a senseless, violent act which took him away in a flash.  

On the court, he was the player who worked hard enough at 5-foot-10 to play with the six-footers, a player who’s grit and determination were evident in every dribble. 

And he was part of the SKC family - one of them - SKC men’s coach Zach Camel said.

“He had a big smile and a good word for everyone,” Camel said. “He will be missed.”

Wolfe attended school for his family - his long-time girlfriend Tia Sines and one-year-old daughter Kyleigh Wolfe who survived him.

“He was trying to make things better for his daughter. He was trying to get a degree for his daughter,” Camel said.

When the team had a day off, Wolfe made haste to see those he loved back in Idaho. His own young family and the mother, father and grandparents who raised him took pride in coming to watch Wolfe play ball.

“That meant a lot to him,” Camel said. “You could see it in his eyes. Anytime his kid was around at the games, he would be holding her.”

Playing on a team that fed off the energy of every player to win an American Indian Higher Education Consortium national championship this past March in Pablo, Wolfe found his family away from home in SKC basketball.

It was no small coincidence that Wolfe called teammate Sonny Eppinette his big brother.

“We’re a close knit group. We had one goal, one plan and one dream and we all got behind it. All the time they spent on the court together, all the time we spent on the road and all the blood sweat and tears brought these guys together like a family,” Camel said.

Although Wolfe was just a first year student and player on the team, he belonged.

“Talking to his mom, she was so glad he got to be a part of this. It meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to us too,” Camel said.

Losing the first of his 100-plus SKC basketball family members to violent tragedy was indescribable, Camel said.

“It’s the time we live in I guess. You need to live now because you might not be here tomorrow,” Camel said. “You just pray that it’s not one of yours that gets caught up in it.”

SKC will be retiring Wolfe’s jersey, No. 21, on both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Wolfe was like a family member in Basil and his wife Gloria Quiver’s home.

Young children in the home looked up to all of the SKC basketball players, but none like Wolfe.

“He was like their big brother. All of the basketball boys are, but Tim was the one they looked up to because he was the smallest one of them all and he could dunk it. The younger boys thought it was awesome,” Basil said.

The nature of the incident was all that much more upsetting for Basil.

“I could understand if it was another gangster kid trying to be hard. But Tim wasn’t like that. He wasn’t up for any altercation, he just went home to see his girlfriend and kid and see his mom,” Basil said.

Villanueva was arrested Saturday morning by the Post Falls Police Swat Team assisting Coeur d’Alene police officers.

Villanueva could face the death penalty if convicted. The minimum sentence is 10 years. It is the first homicide case in Coeur d’Alene in nearly two years, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

Villanueva made his first appearance before Judge James Stow on Monday afternoon. With defense attorney Lynn Nelson beside him, Villanueva listened to the charges against him.

Stow declined bail, due to the violent nature of the charges and the defendant’s ties to Honduras, the country in which he was born.

It was unclear as of Monday if Villanueva is a legal United States resident, as the investigation had not turned up a Social Security number for him, said prosecuting attorney Marty Raap.

“What we’re talking about here is a very violent reaction to very minimal provocation,” Raap said.

A preliminary hearing will be scheduled within two weeks, Stow said, after which the case could be scheduled for trial.

Tom Hasslinger of the Coeur D’Alene Press contributed to this story.