A man has been indicted on first degree murder charges after beating another man to death in a truck stop lounge earlier this year. 

40-year-old Marchello D. Williams allegedly beat 47-year-old Tysheem Porter to death with a “mini sledge hammer” at a Flying J. truck stop in Salem County, New Jersey in May of this year. 

Williams claims he acted in self defense, and that he had met Porter in the past and now Porter was following him and “giving me the look that everyone else in the store was giving me,” prompting the attack. 

Because Williams believed that Porter “kept giving him looks,” Williams attacked Porter with the “mini sledge hammer” from the truck stop store while Porter was sitting in the lounge massage chair with his shoes off. Porter then tried to get up, but Williams hit him with the tool again, this time attacking him with as many as six strikes. 

With Porter incapacitated, Williams left the trucker lounge and requested that a store clerk call 911. When police arrived, Williams was sitting in the lounge with the now-bloody hammer on the table and a bleeding victim on the floor with a serious wound to the back of the head. 

Police say that Williams appeared to be under the influence of some drug when they arrived, but that he did not resist arrest. Now, Williams is being held in the Salem County Correctional Facility, reported NJ News.

“It appears that Mr. Williams perceived that his life was in danger and it’s not entirely clear to me why,” Superior Court Judge Linda Lawhun said in May. “I have not heard any information that anyone at this truck stop witnessed either a verbal or physical altercation between Mr. Williams and the victim.”

Just last week, Williams was indicted on a first-degree murder charge and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon. He is expected to return to court on August 12th for a post-indictment arraignment.