Homicide Watch Trenton

Police are investigating the murder of a man who was shot on Bryn Mawr Avenue Thursday.

At 7:34 p.m., police and medical personal were called to a residence at the end of Bryn Mawr near Volk Street on reports of a man shot. Authorities were directed to the backyard of a residence where they found Cornelius Boakai, 21, of Trenton, who was unresponsive, Lt. Stephen Varn said.

Bokai was rushed to the Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He is the city’s eighth homicide victim of this year. Police are investigating the circumstances of his shooting and have not released a description of a suspect.

According to various social media websites, Boakai went by Cornelius Durant. Boakai was a student at the Mercer County Community College and was in the process of trying out as a defensive back for Gattaca Football, an unaffiliated and unaccredited post-high school football team that plays various college, junior college and prep school teams.

Gattaca coach Manuel Galarza recalled receiving a troubling phone call from one of his players informing him of Boakai’s death around 12:30 a.m. Friday morning.

“It’s a tough blow,” Galarza said.

Galarza said he first met Boaki a few months ago after he called the coach in January asking for the chance to try out for the team. In the weeks leading up to his death, Boaki began participating in the team’s spring practices and was also planning a trip to Jamaica.
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After a one-day reprieve, the city’s criminal element was at it again with the gun violence. From last Friday through Tuesday, nine people were shot, which includes Sidique Richardson (Howlen), who was killed Friday night on Jersey Street and Home Avenue.

On Thursday, around 7:00 p.m. on Bryn Mawr Avenue near Volk Street, a man was shot dead. According to police, the victim was sitting in the car when the suspect fired into the vehicle. The victim got out of the vehicle, ran to the backyard of a residence and collapsed.
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TRENTON — City police are still investigating the shooting that left one man dead Friday night.

Sidiq Howlen was gunned down in front of the Community Mini Market in the 100 block of Home Avenue. Police sources told The Trentonian, the shots that killed the 22-year-old were fired from a silver or possibly gray station wagon. According to the source there were several men who returned fire on the car that fled the area. The second man who was struck in the leg was a bystander.

A friend of the victim, who declined to give his name, said on Friday night that the 22-year-old was a family man and a good guy. The scene Friday night was intense as many residents gathered on their front steps to watch the investigation, some expressed anger that police had not removed Howlen’s body from the scene while others shook their heads and tried to deal with the situation as best they could.
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TRENTON – The jury in the Ivelis Turell murder case could not reach a verdict again Monday, despite more than 18 hours of deliberation starting last Wednesday.

In a note to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez just after noon, the jury said it has deliberated a “significant’’ amount of hours and hadn’t been able make a decision.
The judge sent them to lunch with orders to return at 2 p.m. to try again to come to a verdict. By 4:15 p.m., they hadn’t and were sent home with orders to return Tuesday morning at 9.
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Trenton - Juan Colon, 44, was indicted on criminal attempted murder charges last Wednesday for shooting at Orlando Sanchez two weeks before he was murdered.

On Aug. 25, 2012, Colon allegedly went to Sanchez’ Elm Street home, where his girlfriend was sleeping at the time. Sanchez, 28, answered the door and Colon reportedly told him to wake his girlfriend up. When the woman would not wake up, Colon became angry and kicked in the door and began shooting at Sanchez as he fled upstairs. Sanchez was not hit in the shooting.
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TRENTON – A judge gave a murder suspect a chance at making bail this morning by dropping the full-cash requirement on his $500,000 bail.

Judge Mark Fleming of the Mercer County Superior Court cleared the way for Kevin Boone to convince a bail bondsman to put up the money to win his release until trial.
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TRENTON — A jury of nine women and three men is deliberating the fate of Ivelis Turell, on trial for the shooting murder of the father of her two sons on April 30, 2007.

After four alternate jurors — all men — were culled out, the remaining 12 started deliberations shortly after 3 p.m., following instructions from Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez.
The jurors did not reach an immediate verdict and were sent home in time for dinner.
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TRENTON — The defense rested Tuesday morning after getting a detective to admit no fingerprints could be lifted from the gun that killed Michael Whitaker because the weapon has been cleaned with hydrogen peroxide.

But don’t look at Ivelis Turell, on trial for Whitaker’s murder, as the cleaner of the 9mm Ruger.

State police Detective Mike McCormick told defense lawyer Steve Slaven the ballistics squad apparently wiped down the weapon before he could dust it for prints.
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Trenton police charged a 17-year-old male juvenile on March 2 for the murder of Louis Bryan Alvarez, 25, of Trenton.

The teen, who police did not identify because he was a juvenile, had been in custody on robbery charges when police charged him with murder.

According to police on Feb. 26, the suspect was banging on the door of a home on the 200 block of Fulton Street when Alvarez answered the door. Alvarez and the suspect exchanged words before Alvarez shut the door on the suspect. As Alvarez retreated in the home, the teen allegedly fired a single shot through the window, striking Alvarez in the torso. Police found him unresponsive at the home and was declared dead at the Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

TRENTON — Robert Bartley and Raheem Currie, charged in the murder of 18-year-old James Austin, had their bails reduced by Judge Robert Billmeier on Thursday.

Bartley, who is charged with felony murder, murder, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, saw his bail dropped from $1 million to $750,000.
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