The gunman who killed homeless woman “Granny Annie” in Serra Mesa pleads guilty to manslaughter

A 19-year-old man who fatally shot a 68-year-old homeless woman with a pellet gun in Serra Mesa last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter.

William Innes is scheduled to be sentenced next month to five years and eight months in state prison for the murder of Annette Pershal, who police found unconscious on Sandrock Road on the morning of May 8, 2023.

Prosecutors allege that before the shooting, Innes sent a message to a group chat that said, “I’m going tramp hunting with a pellet gun.”

According to prosecutors, Innes and co-defendant Ryan Hopkins then drove to Pershal’s warehouse and Innes fired several bullets at the victim from the car.

Annette “Annie” Pershal.

(Brandy Nazworth)

Pershal died in a hospital three days after the shooting. She was shot in the head, leg and torso, with one bullet rupturing her aorta, according to Assistant District Attorney Roza Egiazarian.

Hopkins and Innes were arrested in August.

Innes, who was initially charged with murder, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to manslaughter, possession of an offensive weapon and use of a dangerous weapon in the killing.

Hopkins pleaded guilty last year to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to one year in county jail plus probation. Hopkins’ sentence includes a suspended sentence of three years, which could be imposed if he violates the terms of his probation.

Pershal, affectionately known as “Grandma Annie” or “Queen of Serra Mesa” by friends and family, grew up in the community where she was killed, according to her daughter Brandy Nazworth.

Nazworth said at Hopkins’ trial last year that she tried to get her mother to move in with her in Louisiana, but Pershal “couldn’t imagine leaving the neighborhood where she grew up.”

She called her mother “a hippie and a free spirit” and described her as a “human library of San Diego history and stories” who was generous to others despite her circumstances.

“She was a person, not just a thing you used for target practice,” Nazworth said.