Anthony Jones | Homicide Watch Trenton

'Unity Walk' in Trenton to visit sites of murdered victims

David Foster — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 15:27:46 -0400

Residents gather for a prayer service on the steps of Shiloh Baptist Church on May 1, 2014, in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

Like biblical verses, Rev. Lukata Mjumbe can recite the names of the city’s murder victims, the date they were killed and where.

In an attempt to humanize the victim, the executive director of Urban Mission Cabinet Inc. has made it his mission to learn what he can about the lives that ended too soon.

“I know these names because we pray about them by name when we come together,” Mjumbe said in an interview last week with other community religious leaders. “They’re no longer statistics for us.”

For the second year in a row, the United Mercer Interfaith Organization (UMIO) will host a “Unity Walk” on May 1 to visit the sites where victims were murdered this year. The Mercer County freeholders and Trenton council have already passed resolutions recognizing May 1 as the official day of unity in the community.

The walk originated last year after bullets entered the Galilee Baptist Church during a funeral in April, injuring several. Religious leaders met and decided they needed to take the message to the streets, said Mjumbe, who co-chairs UMIO.

“We need to go to those places where we were having these types of community conflicts, to go into the places where violence was running rampant and to directly engage the people,” he said. “We not only need to talk the talk we need to walk the walk.”

Islamic Center of Ewing Imam Qareeb Bashir, who is also the city’s fire director, co-chairs UMIO, an organization which spans many different denominations.

“We’re one human family,” Bashir said. “The murders that took place, these were people who were parts of families … but also part of the Trenton community.”

By the religious community coming together, Bashir said it exemplifies comprehensive strength that it is a serious matter and something needs to be done to stop the bloodshed.

“Hopefully, it will bring awareness, unity and it also will show the families that people really care,” he said.

Two years ago, Trenton experienced the city’s deadliest year with 37 murders. Last year, even though there was an 80-day stretch with no murders during the summer, 33 people were murdered. So far this year, there have been six reported homicides.

“We want to say to the kids that are living, let’s stop the murder,” Shiloh Baptist Church Rev. Darrell Armstrong said. “Trenton as a land has had so much turmoil, so much challenge, so much tragedy, so much trauma. It’s time to give the land a rest.”

Armstrong, who is on the UMIO steering committee, says the walk will be part in parcel with the Black Lives Matter marches. But he believes it’s more than just white police officers involved in the deaths of black men – it’s blacks killing other blacks like mostly what has occurred locally.

“What is the value of any life regardless of who pulled the trigger and who is on the other side that received a bullet?” Armstrong questioned. “What we’re saying in our local community, the lives of these six persons matters so much that we want to not only go to the places and reclaim where their murders took place, but we also want to make a very definitive statement that death of any kind is not acceptable. “

Unlike the recent Black Lives Matter protests, though, Westminster Presbyterian Church Rev. Karen Hernandez-Granzen said the “Unity Walk” will have no chants or signs.

“For me, it’s a statement without using any words when we walk the streets of Trenton,” said Hernandez-Granzen, the vice-chair of UMIO. “It gives us an opportunity to just enter into conversations with our neighbors. I think that it is a statement in our commitment to claim our city and that we want to have a better relationship with our neighbors.”

Stops on the walk to pray will include where Anthony Jones, Wilbur Thomas, Taquan McNeil, Steven Quinton Brannon, and Darryl Ford were murdered. A visit is also planned to the 200 block of Elmer Street where a man recently died from a fire that authorities determined to be set by arson.

First Baptist Church of Trenton Rev. Calvin Powell said he’s been trying to reach out to the victim’s families to have them come out and participate.

“We believe this would be the process of healing,” he said. “With us coming together, I think this is saying we too want a safe haven for our children. This needs to stop, it’s time to come together in peace.”

The “Unity Walk” will have three starting points: At 3:30 p.m., Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1140 Greenwood Ave., and the Islamic Center of Ewing, 685 Parkway Ave., will begin their walks. For the after-work crowd at 5 p.m., the walk at the Shiloh Baptist Church, 340 Reverend S. Howard Woodson Way, will commence.

The three groups will converge at the Gandhi Peace Garden, 223 E. Hanover S., at 6 p.m. That will be followed by a free dinner at the Trenton Masonic Temple, 100 Barracks St., at 7 p.m.

“We want to bring the families together very intentionally,” Mjumbe said of the dinner. “At the dinner, we will be sitting together as a community, and breaking bread together.”

At dinner, important service providers will be offered such as job training, crisis and grief counseling, legal assistance and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

With more than 40 sponsors already participating, Mjumbe said there is still an opportunity for businesses, organizational and congregational sponsorships.

For more information email umioorganizer@gmail.com or visit www.unitedmercerinterfaith.org.

Mjumbe has one lofty goal from the “Unity Walk.”

“Moving forward, we want to change the headlines,” he said. “We hope that eventually we’ll put the Trenton Homicide Watch page out of business.”

Murder victim’s family talks about leaving Trenton’s Pearl Street

Penny Ray — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 09:30:12 -0500

Police investigate Trenton's first homicide of 2015 in the 200 block of Pearl Street. Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian

The family of Tuesday’s murder victim believes they know the identity of the killer, who they say made death threats for the past several months.

Anthony Jones, 43, was gunned down Tuesday evening in the 200 block of Pearl Street. Police found his body lying in the middle of the street around 6:40 p.m., and Jones was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Jones and his family used to live on Pearl Street, but in December they moved to a house on General Greene Avenue. The family moved because they were tired of the shootings and open-air drug deals that plague their old neighborhood.

“We wanted to get out of the area,” Jones’s fiancee Berta Gist-Jones said. “We made a move for our children.”

Anthony Jones and his fiancee Berta Gist-Jones (contributed photo)

Berta and Anthony have two children together: a 4-year-old and a two-year-old. They each also have children from previous relationships. The pair had been together for about 10 years and lived on Pearl Street for about half of that time. Berta’s mother Antonia Defigueras said she often saw young people with guns and drugs causing havoc in the 200 block of Pearl Street, which prevented the family from letting the kids play outside.

“Pearl Street is very rough,” Defigueras said. “I’ve seen young boys walking on Pearl Street just start shooting up in the air. I had to snatch my grandkids and run in the house.”

According to his family, in the summer of last year, Jones — who is also known as Skeett — had an altercation with a man who lives on Hudson Street. The altercation started out verbal, the family said, but turned physical after the other man sucker-punched Jones as he tried to walk away.

“He and Skeett started fighting and Skeett got the best of him,” Defigueras said.

After the fight, Defigueras said, the man who fought with Jones told people in the neighborhood that he was going to kill him. Jones and his family ignored the threats, but a few months later they moved out of the Pearl Street home to distance the children from violence.

The family still has property inside the Pearl Street home, which is why Jones was there on Tuesday evening. The family says Jones went to check the mail and retrieve some belongings when he was confronted by a group of men and was shot several times. The family believes one of those men was the person Jones fought last summer.

“They didn’t have to do him like that,” Berta Gist-Jones said. “Now, I have to raise my two children without him, and they’re young so they don’t really understand.”

This makeshift memorial in honor of Anthony Jones is on display in the 200 block of Pearl Street. January, 28, 2015 - Penny Ray

Jones’s family described him as a wonderful father who “had a big heart.” He was a stay at home dad who took his young kids to school every day, the family said. But his generosity extended to others outside his family as well. When he hosted birthday parties for his children, Jones would invite the entire block; and when the ice cream truck drove through the neighborhood, he’d buy treats for all of the nearby kids. Jones also gave food or money to homeless people who frequented Pearl Street, the family said, and for the past five years he occasionally volunteered at the Mount Carmel Guild, where he worked with Sister Loretta, Program Director for the Emergency Assistance Office.

“Every Thanksgiving he would stop by and help us out,” Sister Loretta said. “He was always very helpful, and we’re very sad that someone we know had to suffer in this way.”

Jones’s family said they are fed up with the violence in Trenton. They often read stories in the newspaper about how the city is trying to move forward in a positive direction, but they’re not optimistic about the future considering the amount of violence that regularly occurs. They must now explain to his young kids how their father died and why it couldn’t be prevented.

“The funeral is going to be bad because when they see their father in the casket they’re going to say ‘Daddy, wake up,’” Defigueras said. “He was a good father. He wasn’t like one of these deadbeat dads who don’t give a damn about his kids. He was a hands-on dad.”

No suspects have been arrested in connection with Jones’s death, and police have not disclosed a motive for the killing.

The case is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information is asked to call (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Man shot and killed on Pearl Street in Trenton

Penny Ray — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 20:09:44 -0500

Whether it rains or snows, bullets seem to hail the capital city.

A man was shot and killed Tuesday evening, marking this year's first homicide.

Police said they received several calls reporting a person shot around 6:40 p.m. in the 200 block of Pearl Street. Law enforcement would not confirm how many times the victim was shot, but police scanners reported a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim was taken to St. Francis Medical Center by ambulance and was later pronounced dead.

Balled up clothing is seen laying amongst ice on a mostly plowed Pearl Street in Trenton on Tuesday Jan. 27, 2014. Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)

The night was cold and the scene was dreary as police collected evidence from the shooting. A pile of clothes, that presumably belonged to the victim, laid in the middle of a partially plowed street. When a spectator walked by and was told about the shooting, she replied "that's f***ed up."

The shooting happened in the East Ward, where five murders occurred last year. Police say the area of Hudson and Pearl streets, where the shooting occurred, is a hotspot for drug activity. But they do not have a motive for Tuesday's killing.

The victim's identity is being withheld pending family notification.

The case is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

-Trentonian reporter Scott Ketterer contributed to this report.