Homicide Watch Trenton

A man was killed outside a store in Trenton Sunday. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A man was shot and killed Sunday, marking the third murder to occur in the capital city over the weekend. Read more

Shawn “Squirm” Harrell

Wild shootings in a South Trenton neighborhood left two people dead, including a father of eight who was gunned down early Saturday, according to relatives at the crime scene.

Shawn “Squirm” Harrell, a loving father who would have turned 41 next Sunday, was shot and killed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday while he was standing next to his blue Dodge Durango, according to his grieving family members.

“They came to my house about 3-something in the morning and told me my brother is dead,” SAGE Coalition Director of Urban Affairs Earlie Harrell, better known on the streets as Messiah, said as police continued their homicide investigation. “My brother was a family man. He took care of his kids. He’s just dead for no reason now.” Read more

A 17-year-old unlicensed driver has been arrested in connection with the March 7 hit-and-run homicide of 39-year-old Lea Pringle.

Lea Pringle (Facebook photo)

The teenage city girl was charged Thursday with death by auto and related offenses and remanded to the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center, according to Trenton Police, who said the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office will determine whether the defendant is tried as a juvenile or an adult.

The unlicensed teen driver is accused of striking the pedestrian about 12:30 a.m. March 7 in the 600 block of North Olden Avenue, just outside of Benny’s bar. Pringle later died at the hospital. She was a Bucks County resident of Yardley, Pennsylvania.Read more

City gunman Masiyah “Chicken” Howard has beaten murder charges through attrition after being prosecuted for years as an alleged killer.

Masiyah Howard

Howard was accused of shooting and killing 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez over a $20 dispute involving an Xbox video game system in 2013, but a jury earlier this year could not reach a verdict on whether Howard was responsible for the victim’s death.

The state had the option of retrying him on the murder charges, but the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has instead decided to dismiss all counts related to the Alvarez homicide after Howard pleaded guilty in June to possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose in an unrelated robbery case.Read more

Naquan Green

A self-confessed killer will literally serve only a few years behind bars for shooting and killing 25-year-old Taquan McNeil in 2015.

Naquan Green, 29, of Trenton, was sentenced to five years of incarceration last Friday. Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta imposed the sentence, which requires Green to serve 85 percent of the sentence in state prison before he can become eligible for parole, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.Read more

Danuweli Keller

The triggerman who shot and killed U.S. Army veteran Dardar Paye execution style and who then ordered the victim’s body to be stuffed in the trunk of a car has been sentenced to six decades of hard time behind bars.

The state argued that Danuweli Keller should have been hit with life imprisonment — which amounts to 75 years of incarceration — for being convicted at trial on first-degree murder charges, but Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier on Thursday sentenced Keller to 61 years in state prison.

“We are gratified that Mr. Keller will be in prison for over half a century,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian told The Trentonian after the sentencing. “It was a cold-blooded execution of the victim. Hopefully this gives the victim’s family some closure.”

Paye, 33, was a U.S. Army veteran, father of two sons and a Liberian immigrant. One of his sisters, Elizabeth Paye, spoke at Thursday’s sentencing and talked about the hurt of losing her brother while also expressing that she forgives Keller for his vicious crimes.Read more

Recent court sentencings in Trenton show that trial-by-jury convictions generally lead to significantly more prison time than negotiating a guilty plea.

Dante Alexander, 33, of Trenton, this week received 50 years of imprisonment for shooting and killing 26-year-old Brandon Nance outside a city bakery in 2013. He pleaded not guilty in the case and took it to trial, where a jury of his peers convicted him in May of first-degree murder for slaying Nance in cold blood on Aug. 29, 2013, in front of the Italian People’s Bakery on Butler Street in broad daylight.

Dante Alexander

Alexander will have to serve at least 85 percent of his term behind bars and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision upon release, according to his defense attorney Christopher T. Campbell.

Meanwhile, self-confessed killer Michael Holman received 15 years of imprisonment for fatally injuring 18-year-old Julio Cesar Cruz in 2014. Holman, who turns 22 later this month, approached Cruz in the first block of Rusling Street and slammed the victim on the ground Feb. 15, 2014. Cruz suffered a mortal head injury during the attack and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.Read more

Alleged gunman Leroy Tutt maintains his innocence, but two cooperating witnesses and cellphone tower data have implicated him in the June 30 murder of 19-year-old Nebate Anderson.

Leroy Tutt

Tutt, 30, of Trenton, has been jailed without bail since getting arrested Aug. 5. He is accused of shooting and killing Anderson in Trenton’s North Ward in broad daylight.

“Mr. Tutt has potential alibi witnesses,” public defender Nicole Carlo said at a recent court proceeding, adding her client “adamantly maintains his innocence.”

An alibi witness is a person who can testify that a defendant was somewhere other than the crime scene when it occurred. Police reviewed cellphone communications data and “confirmed that Leroy Tutt’s cellular telephone was in the general area of Sanford Street during the incident,” according to court documents, but Carlo said the cell tower data “is not a link to the homicide.”Read more

A judge granted a prosecutor’s motion on Tuesday that prevents alleged killer Leroy Tutt from seeing all evidence or knowing what witnesses police have relied upon to obtain probable cause for his Aug. 5 arrest.

Leroy Tutt

Tutt, 30, of Trenton, has been charged with murder and weapons offenses on allegations he shot and killed 19-year-old Nebate Anderson about 3 p.m. June 30 on Sanford Street.

Tutt is an ex-con who recently served time in state prison for unlawful handgun possession and aggravated assault. He may have been motivated by revenge when he allegedly gunned Anderson down.Read more

A cold-blooded killer is going to state prison.

Seth Z. Bowers

Seth Bowers, 22, of Trenton, has been sentenced to 17 years of incarceration for shooting and killing 25-year-old Zaire Gibbs in the capital city last year.

Originally charged with murder and weapons offenses, Bowers pleaded guilty a few months ago to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter. He confessed to shooting Gibbs about 3:50 p.m. June 1, 2016, during an altercation on Washington Street in Trenton. The victim died 24 hours later at the hospital from his mortal wounds.Read more