Homicide Watch Trenton

A pedestrian was struck and killed in the Mill Hill neighborhood at the intersection of Market and Jackson streets Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. (SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN - The Trentonian)

UPDATE: The victim has been identified as Vincent Miller.

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a motorist Saturday night, marking the second hit-and-run death to occur in the capital city this year. Read more

Police and medics rush to save a woman who was driven to TPD headquarters after being shot in East Trenton. November 30, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

The situation appeared bad from the start. Then, it became worse.

Amber Dudley, a 27-year-old female from Collingswood, who was driven to Trenton Police headquarters after being shot died at the hospital shortly before midnight Wednesday. Read more

A 16-year-old girl was an unintended target in an ongoing feud between warring factions from the city’s Wilbur section and Jersey Street, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Peter Charles Jr., 18, allegedly belonged to a group from Jersey Street, possibly the “130 boys,” a sort of neighborhood gang.

Peter Charles

Teenager Ciony Kirkman became unsuspectingly entangled in this dispute when Charles, a teenager with a lengthy and violent juvenile history, allegedly opened fire on a speeding van carrying the young girl and six others, prosecutors said.

Charles, now 18, made his first appearance in adult court at a bail hearing Wednesday after he was waived up in September by family court Judge Lawrence DeBello.Read more

Jaquan Dallas

It was the knock at the door no mother wants to hear.

Gloria Burke’s landlord stood outside, accompanied by two detectives.

The detectives showed Gloria a picture asked her if she recognized the man in the photo. She said it was her son.

They paused for what seemed like minutes.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” the detective said. “Your son was just murdered.”Read more

Grady Blue was done being told to shut up and take the deal.

Grady A. Blue III

In accepting a plea offer earlier this year, Blue III admitted gunning down 23-year-old Naquan Ellis as he was stood with a group of people outside of the North 25 housing complex in June 2014.

He was being sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter, for the shooting that claimed Ellis and injured another woman.

But Grady told the judge he wanted to take back his guilty plea. He accepted responsibility for a gun charge that called for a concurrent 7 years but not for the “body.”Read more

A man was shot and killed on Edgewood Avenue. November 15, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

The flashing red and blue lights and faint sounds of women sobbing signified another tragedy had struck the capital city.

Hakeim Blackshear, 27, was shot and killed early Tuesday morning in the 1400 block of Edgewood Avenue.

His body lay underneath a white sheet on the sidewalk outside of an apartment building while investigators placed crime scene placards next to potential evidence and knocked on doors searching for witnesses around 1 a.m.

Police scanners reported Blackshear was shot at least once in the head. Read more

Curtis Grier was a God-fearing city man who went to church every Sunday. His parents told a judge they raised him to respect the law and his elders. His father is a retired corrections officer and his family is tight with retired Trenton police officers.

Yet in June 2014, two hours after his family friend clung to life after he was felled by three gunshots, Grier took matters into his own hands, a judge said Thursday at sentencing in Mercer County criminal court.

The judge agreed with Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher’s statement that Grier was a “vigilante.”

“Mr. Grier took it upon himself to arrange a reckoning,” Judge Peter Warshaw said, in handing down a 10-year sentence to the admitted killer. “The tragedy of this case is it didn’t have to occur.”Read more

A city man who appeared headed for trial has accepted a plea deal that will send him to prison for nearly two decades for killing another city man in 2014.

Tomarkus Whitfield

Tomarkus Whitfield, 38, recently accepted a plea deal that will send him to prison for 19 and a half years for killing Pinkey Priester in June 2014.

Whitfield pumped more than 10 rounds into the 30-year-old Priester on June 16, 2014, on the 300 block of Centre Street. The men had a longstanding financial dispute that turned violent that day.

Arrested by U.S. Marshals and charged with murder and weapons offenses, Whitfield admitted to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter under a negotiated plea with prosecutors, a spokeswoman said in a statement.Read more

A city teenager accused of killing 16-year-old Ciony Kirkman was quietly waived up as an adult last month to face murder charges in a random killing stemming from an apparent dispute over music disrespectful of a neighborhood gang.

Ciony Kirkman (contributed photo)

Teenager Peter Charles Jr. has been charged with murder, six counts of aggravated assault and weapons offenses in connection with the April 24 slaying of Kirkman, who was shot in the head while inside a stolen van with six others minors.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said criminal complaints were filed in October against Charles, who was 17 years old at the time of the killing. He turned 18 in July.Read more

Luddie Austin thought about tracking down and killing the man who helped kill his son, James, in February 2013.

(left to right) Amanda Austin holding Jakalya, one of James Austin’s twin daughters, Kim Bellamy, and Luddie Austin holding the other twin Janalya.

On those days, when he contemplated taking out convicted killer Raheem Currie, the retired Trenton Police sergeant found solace in the people in his corner. Guys like Lester Ponder, a fellow veteran and close family friend.

It also helped that Luddie Austin remembered when his son was 12 years old, waiting deep for the kickoff during a youth football game for the Willingboro Panthers. They were playing the Trenton Tornadoes, and father and son made a little wager.Read more