A Vineland teen who mocked a neighbor on a mobile video-sharing site for weeks is now accused of killing the woman’s husband after a confrontation with the family.
William "Timmy" Durham Sr., 51, was a 19-year veteran corrections officer at South Woods State Prison.
He died Monday night, after 18-year-old Zachary Latham stabbed him several times during a fight Monday night, Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said Wednesday.
Latham also also is accused of using stun gun on Durham’s 21-year-old son, William Jr., during the incident.
Durham Jr., his mother and 17-year-old brother were issued summonses for trespassing and assault.
The Durhams went to Latham’s home after an incident hours earlier at the Durhams', according to the charges.The battle had apparently been brewing for weeks, after Latham posted a video of Durham's wife online and it went viral. After that, the harassment in person and online was constant, said friend Mike Gallagher.
“He died a hero defending his family,” Gallagher said.
“Timmy was one of the most mild-mannered, respected, dedicated officers you would ever meet,” he said of Durham. “He was the kind of guy that would do anything for his family.”
Gallagher said the night of the killing began with Latham swerving his car toward 17-year-old Gage Durham.
The incident ended with Latham giving 49-year-old Catherine “Tiffany” Durham a black eye, Gallagher said.That is allegedly when the Durhams went to Latham's to confront him.
The prosecutor would not comment on that allegation. Latham has not been charged with assaulting Tiffany Durham.
But the bad blood between Latham and the Durhams seems to have started with his habit of revving his expensive sports cars down Thornhill Road, where both live.
Latham proudly posted videos of his expensive cars to the mobile short-video platform TikTok. One video shows the speedometer reach 120 mph as he drives down the street.
On April 6, Tiffany Durham was the focus of what would be Latham's most popular TikTok post by far.
“You OK, Karen?” he asks as he videos the woman, calling her by the name that has come to mean any entitled, arrogant, middle-aged white woman.
He continues to mock her from inside his sports car, one of several he shares on his page.
Then he shows police cars behind him: “Three cop cars, all because my car is loud,” he says.
The video had gotten more than 3.1 million views as of Wednesday.
After it started to go viral, Latham continued to post videos about the family — and the police who would respond to the complaints — to his 38,700-plus followers.
It gained so much attention, that people would come to the street and speed off loudly outside the Durhams’ home, according to video posted Latham posted April 26.
“When people rev at karen because they saw my tiktok and they call the cops on me,” he wrote.
Latham then shows an officer who was called to the scene.
“Everybody thinks you’re the problem in the neighborhood,” the officer tells him.
“Maybe you should tell them to invest in security cameras, because then they’d see it wasn’t me,” Latham replies.
But it was the teen —who turned 18 after the alleged harassment began — who stalked and harassed Tiffany Durham for six weeks, Gallagher alleges.
One TikTok post seems to foreshadow what might happen.
One of Durham’s sons is seen confronting Latham, who is videoing again from inside his car.
“Karen’s son found out the video went viral and tried taking me out of the car,” Latham wrote on the April 14 post.But the reason William Jr. was really mad was that the family's address had been posted online, Gallagher said.
“Get the f--- out of the car,” William Jr. says.
“I gotta knife, Dude,” Latham says. “You better play.”
Latham then tells the younger Durham he’s going to call the cops on him before speeding away.
Latham is in the Cumberland County jail on eight counts, including aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.
Tiffany Durham is charged with trespassing and simple assault.
Her two sons are charged with aggravated assault and trespassing.
Latham was taken to the hospital for his injuries before he was jailed.
