Tahaij Wells | Homicide Watch Trenton

Alleged Art All Night gunman limps into court with arm sling, gets detained

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 19:14:03 -0400

Alleged Art All Night gunman Davone White has been indicted on allegations he pointed a loaded pistol at a Trenton cop and in the direction of numerous civilians during the 24-hour arts festival that ended in chaos and bloodshed June 17.

Davone White

Authorities are still awaiting ballistics test results to confirm whether White fired his black Tanfoglio handgun, but the Superior Court on Friday ordered the city man to be jailed without bail pending final resolution of his case, firmly convinced the defendant pulled the trigger.

“It’s a serious danger to the community — possession of a firearm at a public event,” Judge Anthony Massi said Friday at White’s detention hearing, “and discharging that firearm.”

White, 27, limped into the courtroom Friday afternoon with his right arm tucked in a black sling, finally appearing in court after suffering from gunshot wounds in the Art All Night 2018 gunplay three months ago. Shackled in chains and sporting an orange Mercer County Correction Center jumpsuit, White mostly kept his head down while his lawyer argued he was too wounded to be dangerous.

“He can barely walk now,” defense attorney Christopher Olsen said, suggesting the court should release his client from jail due to his “severe” injuries and “extensive nerve damage.”

“He is not a danger to the community,” Olsen said of White. “He’s not a risk of fleeing. He’s not a risk of failure to appear.”

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Heather Hadley said the defense at a future date could submit medical reports and request a new detention hearing at that time. White aimed a loaded weapon and “was ready to shoot it” at a public event that had 500 to over 1,000 people in attendance, Hadley argued. She acknowledged ballistics test results are pending, meaning the state as of Friday afternoon did not have any proof the recovered Tanfoglio pistol was discharged.

After Judge Massi ordered White to be placed on pretrial detention, Olsen said he will get the medical records and file for the detention hearing to be re-opened. White denies firing a weapon at the arts event held at the Roebling Wire Works warehouse in Trenton’s North Ward.

“It’s his position he never fired the weapon,” Olsen said in an interview following the detention hearing. “It’s his position he was shot from behind.”

White says a police officer shot him from behind, resulting in his serious injuries, Olsen said. White collapsed in the middle of the roadway near the intersection of Dye and Genesee streets, and authorities say they recovered a handgun in close proximity to the defendant.

White has an extensive criminal history going back to his days as a juvenile, which includes an adult conviction of third-degree aggravated assault, a violent crime that resulted in him being sentenced March 9 to non-custodial probation for two years.

The New Jersey Judiciary’s Public Safety Assessment rated White as being at the highest risk of committing new criminal activity and the highest risk of failing to appear in court for mandatory proceedings. The PSA issued a “no release” recommendation.

Amir Armstrong

A grand jury on Thursday handed up an indictment charging White and another defendant, Amir Armstrong, with weapons offenses.

White has been indicted on one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun without a permit to carry, one count of second-degree possession of a pistol for an unlawful purpose, one count of fourth-degree possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine, one count of fourth-degree aggravated assault on allegations he pointed a pistol at Trenton Police Detective Eliezer Ramos, another count of fourth-degree aggravated assault on allegations he pointed a firearm at numerous unidentified civilians, and one count of second-degree certain persons not to possess a firearm stemming from his prior aggravated assault conviction.

Armstrong, 24, has been indicted on one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a silver handgun without a permit to carry and one count of third-degree receiving stolen property on allegations he possessed a handgun that had been stolen. Armstrong, who was shot in the head in the Art All Night gunplay, was ordered to pretrial detention several weeks ago.

Tahaij Wells

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force continues to investigate the shooting that erupted during the early morning hours of June 17. Police shot and killed 32-year-old Tahaij Wells in the apparent gunfight that transpired when cops were attempting to shut down the rowdy event. Wells would have likely been charged with weapons offenses if he survived.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has released surveillance video, body-cam footage and 9-1-1 recordings from the Art All Night mass shooting that injured at least 22 people, including 17 who suffered gunshot wounds.

Prosecutors release more footage of Trenton Art All Night shootout

Isaac Avilucea — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:13:57 -0400

Screenshot of security footage shows people scrambling after the shooting at Art All Night in Trenton.

Footage that appears to be from the surveillance system at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency shows people scattering in all directions as gunfire erupted in the early-morning hours of June 17 at the Art All Night festival.

The 17-second clip, released Friday by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, doesn’t show the shootout inside the Roebling Wire Works warehouse. But it does capture someone falling to the ground, in the middle of a scrum, after possibly being shot as others scrambled to safety.

The individual on the ground doesn’t appear to be one of the three suspects involved in the shootout.

Others were captured taking cover behind a Miller Lite trailer, as cops ran and took up tactical positions along the building.

The bird’s-eye surveillance appears to be from the building adjacent to the Wire Works warehouse and points toward Dye Street showing the outside of the warehouse and the parking lot.

The prosecutor’s office earlier in the week released several body-camera videos and 911 recordings from the mass shooting that injured at least 22 people, including 17 who suffered gunshot wounds.

Those videos also didn’t show the shooting, only the police response to the aftermath.

Two of the three suspects, Amir Armstrong and Davone White, have been charged with weapons offenses following the shootout. A third suspect, Tahaij Wells, was fatally shot by the police in the melee.

Tahaij Wells (left) and Amir Armstrong

Davone White

Wells was shown in body camera handcuffed on his stomach near the side of the Wire Works building, closest to the warehouse doors.

Body-camera footage showed cops carrying Armstrong, who was shot in the head, from inside the warehouse to an awaiting police SUV parked outside the Wire Works building.

More clips showed cops tending to gunshot victims as they swept through the massive complex securing the scene and get walking wounded to ambulances.

Emergency dispatchers were flooded by phones calls from people reporting the chaos.

“We need every ambulance available,” a dispatcher said on one of the transmissions. “The tally just keeps going up.”

The clips also showed White, who witnesses said was shot from behind by cops, sprawled out in the middle of the road near the intersection of Dye and Genesee streets.

Someone reported being carjacked in that area by an individual they believed was involved in the shootout, according to radio transmissions.

Authorities have said they were working to determine whether there was a connection to an attempted carjacking and the firefight.

A crashed car was found abandoned in an alley where police were called to secure and guard it, according to the radio transmissions.

Trenton Detectives Eliezer Ramos, Matthew Bledsoe, Michael Cipriano and Officer Robert Furman have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation continues.

Ramos, who is shown in witness video guarding the area where White lay in the street, is a member of the violent crimes unit.

Trenton Police’s specialized units don’t normally wear body cameras, only patrol officers.

A body cam worn by Furman showed him being escorted by Sgt. Jason Woodhead to the hospital. It’s unclear if the two other detectives on leave wore body cams during the shootout, which broke out as officials shut down the event following several altercations.

On the drive over, Woodhead and Furman discussed the police presence at the festival.

“Should have metal detectors out there,” Woodhead said.

“That’s what Cipriano was saying, like metal detectors on the entrace,” Furman responded.

“How you only hire four [officers]. I know you expect the city you’re in to [pitch in],” Woodhead said. “What the hell? I didn’t even know about it till I came in to work today. Not that anyone needed to tell me. But I’m just saying. They didn’t give anyone a heads up on anything. Should have prepared better.”

“It’s a huge thing,” Furman said. “You figure there’d be more than four people hired.”

“I been there where the crowd was way more unruly and a lot of fights,” Woodhead said. “But nothng like that. OK, let’s stop talking about it.”

Event organizers have faced questions over the decision to hire only four overtime Trenton cops as security for an event that has attracted tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Organizers stressed the Trenton cops were part of a security deployment that included four more Mercer County Sheriff’s officers and a security detail.

Police body-camera videos also showed people gathered outside of the trauma center at Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where Amir Armstrong’s mother pleaded with cops for information as they instructed people to back up while they roped off the front entrance with crime tape.

“I just want to make sure it’s not him,” the woman said.

The shootout stemmed from an ongoing feud between warring neighborhood factions, authorities said.

Prosecutors haven’t responded to several unaddressed questions from The Trentonian regarding whether investigators determined who opened fire first or which officers fatally shot Wells.

The Trentonian spoke to one witness who believed she got shot by police officers in the chaos, though officials haven’t confirmed if any of the 17 bystanders who were shot were struck by cops’ bullets.

A spokeswoman for prosecutor Angelo Onofri said in an email no other information would be provided Friday.

Authorities release bodycam footage from Art All Night shooting in Trenton

Trentonian Staff — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 17:51:09 -0400

TRENTON >> “He’s shot in the head,” a Trenton cop shouted on disturbing body-camera footage of the June 17 shootout at the Art All Night festival. “Come on. Let’s go. Open the door.”

Officers frantically grabbed the arms and legs of one of the three suspected gunmen, Amir Armstrong, as he lay on the ground of the Roebling Wire Works warehouse where a firefight erupted around 2:45 a.m. Father’s Day, and rushed him to a waiting cruiser parked outside.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office released several police body-camera videos and 911 calls Wednesday, in response to public records request from the news media, providing the most in-depth view yet of the chaotic aftermath of Trenton’s mass shooting. Some of the footage was redacted to protect victims’ privacy.

Armstrong was shot in the head during a firefight between feuding neighborhood factions that erupted as police attempted to shut down the event where about 1,000 people were still gathered. A woman with a Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America red T-shirt assisted cops as they huddled around Armstrong, who was wearing red shoes and looked unresponsive.

Joe Kuzemka, the director of Art All Night, walked over and watched as the wounded Armstrong lay almost motionless.

Kuzemka, wearing an Art All Night orange T-shirt, black baseball cap and cargo shorts, appeared shell-shocked.

Officers loaded Armstrong into the back of a cruiser and sped away as a cop who accompanied him on the ride over tried to keep him talking.

“What’s your name?” asked the officer, whose identify was unclear.

Armstrong struggled.

“Amir,” he said, in a muffled voice.

“Amir, stay with me,” the cop said.

“My arms are numb,” Armstrong tells the cop. He then asks him to answer his phone.

“We gotta get you to the hospital,” the cop says. “You gonna be OK. We almost there. Stay still.”

Armstrong was one of two men charged in connection with the shootout that injured at least 22 people, including 17 wounded by gunshots.

Police recovered a silver revolver tucked on the right side of Armstrong’s waistband, according to an affidavit of probable cause. He was charged with being in possession of a black-handle silver Taurus revolver without having a legal permit to carry the weapon.

Screengrab from bodycam footage of the police responding to a mass shooting in Trenton at Art All Night June 17, 2018.

Another suspect, 26-year-old Davone “Dada” White who witnesses say was shot from behind by cops, was shown on videos sprawled out in the middle of the intersection near Dye and Genesee streets, suffering from several gunshot wounds. He was charged with unlawfully possessing a black handgun as a convicted felon and possessing a large-capacity magazine in violation of state law prohibiting such devices.

Screengrab from bodycam footage of the police responding to a mass shooting in Trenton at Art All Night June 17, 2018.

Tahaij Wells, the third alleged gunman, appeared on the videos on his stomach, handcuffed, in a black shirt and white pants, outside of the warehouse doors. A pool of blood stained the ground next to him.

“Big guy. Stay with us,” one of the cops told Wells. “Stay awake. You hear us?”

“The one over by the wall is the worst,” another cop shouted as officials triaged the massive scene. Officers with guns drawn and a canine surrounded the area where Wells was down, diverting people away as more cop cars and ambulances screamed to the warehouse with their sirens wailing.

Officers found guns near Wells, who was killed by police during the melee.

Trenton Detectives Eliezer Ramos, Matthew Bledsoe, Michael Cipriano and Officer Robert Furman remain on administrative leave while the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office investigates their use of deadly force.

Another clip showed Furman being escorted by a sergeant in a police cruiser to the hospital where a nurse asked him if he had been shot and took his information as he sat in a chair.

Screengrab from bodycam footage of the police responding to a mass shooting in Trenton at Art All Night June 17, 2018.

On the trip over, Furman, 24, who has been on the force a little more than a year, lamented that there wasn’t metal detectors at the event as they described how their hearts raced and their blood pressure was “through the roof” as the chaos unfolded.

Radio chatter cut through the conversation, alerting officers to the carnage.

“As per the doctor, we have 14 victims,” the radio dispatcher said. One woman was hit by a car as hundreds stampeded out the doors to try to get to safety.

“God damn,” the cop said.

In another clip, a cop remarked he could still “smell the f---in’ iron” of victims’ blood he got on his arm as he washed himself off as firefighters stood by.

Cops still hadn’t secured the scene at that point. And someone walked over with a warning.

“Guys, there’s someone with a gun around here, so be mindful.”

Cops struggled to control the rowdy crowd as they swept through the warehouse complex with flashlights searching for shell casings and other evidence.

Officers stumbled upon someone inside a tent in the middle of the complex, telling the man he needed to put clothes on and get out of the roped-off crime scene.

“That was a shooting?” the oblivious man said from inside the tent. “I thought it was fireworks.”

One of the body camera videos showed a Trenton cop casually strolling through asking people in the crowd to leave just minutes before the shots broke out.

“It’s a wrap,” the cop told festival-goers. “10 a.m. It starts up again.”

“It’s Art All Night,” one woman joked with the officer.

“It’s too out of control,” he responded, as he continued through the crowd urging people to go home. “We don’t have enough cops.”

As a woman sipped out of a water bottle, the shots started popping.

“Sh*t, get out of here,” the cop shouted as he ran toward the crackle of the gunfire. “They’re shootin’ over there. Go.”

People scrambled past as the cop waded through the sea of people with his gun drawn.

“Who’s shooting?”

“My boy got hit,” one man screamed as he ran next to a friend who appeared to be shot in the shoulder.

“Get him on the ground. Put pressure on his shoulder,” the cop said. “Who did it? What they look like?”

“They in there,” the man responded.

Raw details

As cops struggled to rope off the crime scene and control the unruly crowd near Dye and Genesee streets, an unidentified officer threatened to mace the crowd.

“If people don’t start leaving, I’m just gonna start macing the crowd. Go away. You gotta go away.”

A woman bear-hugged a man keeping him from walking toward the cop.

“If you touch me, I’ll f--k you up,” the man shouted at the cop.

“I don’t got time for this sh-t” the cop responded. “The hospitals are overflowing. We got eight people shot.”

Another man ran toward White, who was sprawled out in the middle of the road, and was immediately wrapped up and escorted away by cops.

“That’s my brother,” he screamed.

Amid the chaos, Trenton Police dispatchers contacted various law-enforcement agencies seeking assistance.

“We’ve got a complete mess here, 635 South Clinton Ave.,” a city dispatcher told New Jersey State Police in an emergency call. “We’ve got at least five; you already called State Police? All right, they are saying they already called you guys. We’re trying to see if we can get somebody over there to assist us, 635 South Clinton Ave. OK, thank you, ma’am. Bye, bye.”

In one video clip, an officer found a gun inside a garbage can outside the warehouse.

“Leave it right there,” an officer said to the cop who found the gun. “Don’t touch it.”

Police traversed the grounds of the Roebling Market dispersing hundreds of people as they ordered event staff to go inside the warehouse and told everyone else to leave the premises.

“Ladies, hurry up. Walk faster, y’all,” a cop says in dispersing people away from the crime scene. “Let’s go.”

“Help me. I’m shot, Bro,” a man said to an officer, hobbling as he tried to nurse a gunshot wound to the leg.

Trentonian staff writers Isaac Avilucea and Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman contributed to this report.

Witnesses describe cops shooting possible suspect from behind at AAN shootout

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 16:11:24 -0400

A man who was shot and arrested by police lays outside the Roebling Wire Works. The man was identified by sources as "Dada" or Davone White. White was charged as one of the suspected shooters in the mass shooting at Art All Night on June 17, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Krystal Knapp - Planet Princeton.)

Davone “Dada” White, one of the suspected gunmen in the Art All Night shootout, is captured on grim footage bleeding in the streets after he was shot from behind by the police, witnesses told The Trentonian.

The witnesses said a Trenton cop shot a man they could only identify by the street name “Dada” at least three times as he ran from the Roebling Wire Works building following a wild 2:45 a.m. Father’s Day shootout. A source who knew the three suspected gunmen allegedly involved in the firefight confirmed Dada is White.

The cop then opened fire at least two more times on Dada while he lay on the ground bleeding, the witnesses said. But that action may be deemed justified, according to a police accountability expert interviewed by this newspaper.

A witness who spoke on condition of anonymity said she was sitting inside her gray Hyundai Elantra when the gunfire erupted. She said she was one of the people who witnessed the cop encounter with the man she identified as “Dada,” though she couldn’t confirm his real name.

“The cop was five steps behind him and he shot him. Boom, boom, boom. Three times. The boy fell to the ground. And the boy is screaming and crying. The cop ran around the boy. The boy was, like, squirming on the ground, like wiggling. The cop goes around him and shoots him again. Boom, boom. Two times. Then he put the handcuffs on him.”

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office wouldn’t say whether the man in the video sprawled out near the intersection of Dye and Genesee streets is White.

“All the injured parties have been identified. However, the specifics of which victim or suspect was where is not yet public information as the matter is still under investigation,” spokeswoman Kathleen Petrucci said.

White, 26, and Amir Armstrong, 23, are charged with weapons offenses in connection with the shootout, while a third suspect, Tahaij Wells, was killed by police during the melee.

White has several aliases, including Davone White-Smith, according to court records.

White’s relatives haven’t responded to multiple messages seeking comment.

Trenton Police Detectives Matthew Bledsoe, Michael Cipriano and Eliezer Ramos, as well as Officer Robert Furman remain on administrative leave, standard protocol following a police-involved shooting, while the prosecutor’s office investigates the police response to the shootout.

It’s unclear how many of the 17 people who suffered gunshot wounds were shot by the cops. But The Trentonian spoke to Ureena Gurley, a witness who says she is certain she was hit by a cop’s bullet.

Witnesses described seeing Dada fall to the ground and flop around after getting shot while the cop circled around Dada with his gun drawn and commanded him to stay on the ground and show his hands, before opening fire on him at least two more times while Dada lay on the ground.

No one saw Dada turn back or appear to point anything in the direction of the officer.

Video footage of the shooting’s aftermath recorded by witnesses show a Trenton cop straddle a gun recovered a few feet from Dada. The cop disarmed the gun and placed it in a side pocket of his cargo pants.

Rich Rivera, a former cop turned police accountability expert who reviewed the footage obtained by this newspaper, said the cop responded appropriately by pocketing the gun, but “it would have been good if he threw a dime or nickel on the spot.”

Witnesses questioned why the cop shot Dada while he was on the ground, but Rivera said, “Even if he’s shot in the back, it could be justified. If an individual posed a risk running into a crowd, they could. I do see a lot of hesitation initially.”

While Gov. Phil Murphy and Mercer County prosecutor Angelo Onofri have credited the police response to the shooting with saving lives, Rivera still questioned some of the cops’ actions on the tape, including a delay in getting Dada medical attention.

Witnesses wondered whether more could have been done to help Dada, who is reportedly still in bad shape. A woman said she spoke to relatives who relayed he had been shot at least five times.

Witness video shows it took around six and a half minutes before paramedics arrived with a stretcher to tend to the handcuffed Dada. His clothes were soaked in blood.

“It’s disturbing that no one tried to render medical assistance immediately,” Rivera said. “They should have done something other than stand around and do nothing.”

Rivera was also critical of Ramos, who struggled to handcuff another man he tackled to the ground. The cop yelled at the man he would “f--k you up” if he didn’t put his hands behind his back.

“That goes to the officer’s mindset,” the cop expert said. “He’s absolutely got adrenaline going and his sympathetic nervous system is firing. That doesn’t justify threatening someone that he’s going to ‘f--k him up’.”

Officials are still doing ballistics and reconstructing the shootout to determine how the gunfire unfolded, though Gurley seemed certain she was struck by officers as she tried to get back up to run.

“I still have a little bit of fragment in it,” Gurley said. “I was in a state of shock.”

Videos capture ‘chaos’ outside of Art All Night before and after shootout

Isaac Avilucea — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:25:18 -0400

Screengrab from a witness’s video of the chaos that erupted when shots were fired at Art All Night in Trenton.

TRENTON >> Videos obtained by The Trentonian show a police presence of at least six officers, one with a canine, trying to disperse a rowdy crowd about 90 minutes before at least three suspects engaged in a wild firefight at the Art All Night festival.

More footage reviewed by the newspaper provides the first glimpse into the gruesome scene that unfolded inside the warehouse when gunfire erupted around 2:45 Sunday morning, injuring at least 22 people, including a 13-year-old.

The shocking videos, provided by a man who was there with his wife, captured the “chaos” leading up to the shooting and the carnage inside the building moments after the shootout.

The man agreed to be interviewed on the condition he was identified only by his street name, “Pito.”

Pito also allowed The Trentonian to watch three clips he filmed on the condition it would not publish them out of respect for the alleged gunmen’s families.

Pito, who knew the alleged shooters, identified one of the men bleeding on the ground next to a pool of blood inside the warehouse as Amir Armstrong, one of the suspected gunmen.

Armstrong is seen bleeding from the side of his head after suffering an apparent head shot, information that was corroborated by multiple sources.

Others lay shot on the floor of the warehouse as people rushed over to help.

The videos also captured some of the brewing beefs that broke out prior to the shooting.

Around 1 a.m., the video showed cops rushing over to intervene when people squared up outside of the warehouse raising their hands like they were about to fight.

At least six Trenton Police officers and a police dog swept through the crowd, telling people to leave or head inside the Roebling Wire Works building, according to the video.

People threw up apparent Blood gang signs and shouted at the camera. Another man raised a trigger finger, pretending to shoot at the camera, a haunting image of what was to come.

Lauren Otis, the executive director of Artworks — the nonprofit that produced the event — told people walking into the building the festival was being shut down.

“Anyone who’s coming in now, we’re closing down,” he said, according to the video.

People ignored him and continued to pour into the warehouse, the video shows.

Pito asked the executive director why the festival was being shut down.

“It’s chaos,” Otis responded.

Event organizers have faced questions about their decision to hire only four overtime Trenton cops to staff an event that has attracted tens of thousands of people over the years. About 1,000 people were still at the festival when the gunfire erupted,

Otis released a statement in response to Trentonian inquiries saying the overtime cops were part of a heavier police presence that followed after cops learned from Hamilton teacher Danielle Grady’s Facebook post Saturday morning there may be a shootout.

Otis said officers from other departments and a 14-member security detail were at the event as part of a “comprehensive” security plan approved by city officials.

The police presence included a total of eight officers from Trenton Police and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, along with the security detail. It was unclear if members of the security detail were armed.

The security presence still wasn’t enough, as officers struggled to get the rowdy crowd under control nearly two hours before the shootout.

A second clip obtained by The Trentonian captured the moment when a rapid succession of gunshots ripped through the building, sending people darting for the doors.

Pito continued filming as he ran through the warehouse searching for his wife.

He came upon a crowd gathered around Armstrong, who was wearing a blue jacket, white T-shirt, dark jeans and red sneakers with a red hat next to body.

As people tried to render aid, Pito shouted at Armstrong, “Stay with us, bro.”

At some point, Armstrong flopped on his side.

Armstrong remains hospitalized in critical condition, and authorities haven’t provided an update on his status.

He and another man, Davone White, have been charged with weapons offenses in connection with the shootout, while a third suspect, Tahaij Wells, was shot and killed by the cops.

Pito said he saw Wells and Armstrong standing with two men he didn’t recognize inside the building minutes before the shootout.

Everything seemed fine, and no one was beefing, Pito said. He recalled Wells had a big smile on his face as they shook hands and talked before he walked off.

“That’s what I don’t understand,” Pito said. “I’m flipping my lid. How the f--k did [this happen]?”

Pito said he knew Wells, who went by N.O.R.E on the streets, for about 15 years before Sunday’s fatal firefight.

They met in the joint around 2003. Wells was in on the alleged gangland slay of Robert McNair, a fellow Bloods gangster.

Wells was 17 at the time he was arrested and spent more than 15 years incarcerated, most of that time in solitary confinement at Trenton state prison, after he admitted to killing McNair.

The men were housed in A-Pod of the Mercer County jail when they met, while Pito said he was locked up on a cocaine charge.

“He was one of the funniest guys you ever met,” Pito said. “You wanted him around you.”

Pito, who said he has done more than 12 years of hard time, called Wells “little Pachanga” because he resembled a character from the crime movie “Carlito’s Way.”

Wells was released from prison in February. And Pito said he saw his former jail mate on the outside about three weeks ago, outside a Trenton barber shop. They hugged and talked.

They saw each other again shortly before the shootout, Pito said.

Everything seemed normal, Pito said, then came the gunshots.

He teared up re-watching the bloody clips inside Trentonian headquarters.

Pito tried sending Wells a Facebook message hours after the shootout but didn’t hear back. A friend later told him Wells had been killed by the police during the melee.

“N---as losin’ they lives over nothing, bro,” Pito said. “He wasn’t a bad kid. He never experienced life. When you incarcerate the mind, you’re always going to be stuck. It’s not fun. Coming home, you ain’t got sh-t. Nobody tries to help you. I don’t judge him for what he had done in his past. He had a good heart. He did one big justice for me. I will always love the kid for that.”

Officials admit they knew about Hamilton teacher’s post ahead of Trenton shootout

Penny Ray — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 19:46:18 -0400

This makeshift memorial in honor of Tahaij Wells was displayed at the corner of Calhoun and Passaic streets. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Officers in at least two police departments knew about a township teacher’s Facebook post warning people not to attend Trenton’s Art All Night festival because “they will be shooting it up” within roughly an hour of it being shared online.

Startling new details emerged Wednesday afternoon forcing officials to acknowledge cops from Hamilton and Trenton police departments had learned about Wilson Elementary teacher Danielle Grady’s widely circulated Facebook post as early as Saturday afternoon, about 14 hours before a firefight broke out around 2:45 a.m. Sunday at the arts festival inside a warehouse of the Roebling Market.

Investigators wanted to know whether Grady had advance warning of the mass shooting that injured at least 22 people, including a teenager. Most of the victims have been treated and released from the hospital.

Hundreds of people saw and commented on the post, but city police director Ernest Parrey Jr. said at a news conference Tuesday at the Friendship Baptist Church he was “not aware” of any calls to police forewarning of potential violence.

Danielle Grady

Mercer County prosecutor Angelo Onofri admonished the township teacher at the same presser for not alerting police.

Hamilton school officials Wednesday morning said Grady had been sidelined from teaching for the rest of the year after officials criticized her for not alerting police to the potential threat.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Onofri acknowledged his office has since learned a retired Hamilton cop forwarded the teacher’s post to the school resource officer at Hamilton High School West Saturday afternoon.

David Barlow is the school resource officer for Hamilton High School West.

Grady’s attorney pounced on officials in an exclusive interview with The Trentonian for allegedly scapegoating Grady.

In addition to the intelligence the retired Hamilton cop passed along, The Trentonian learned Trenton Police officer Jamar Booker told his supervisor, Peter Weremijenko, about the threat around 8 p.m. Saturday night after seeing Grady’s Facebook post online, attorney Robin Lord said.

Crediting Booker for “doing his duty” by reporting the post to superiors, Lord proceeded to accuse officials of deceiving the public over what they knew and when about Grady’s ominous message warning people “they will be shooting it up” hours before the art festival firefight.

“They did nothing. They did absolutely nothing. They had notice in advance there was going to be a shooting, and they didn’t do a godd--n thing,” Lord said. “They had some nerve using her as a scapegoat.”

Onofri faulted Grady for posting the warning on social media but not alerting cops to the potential threat.

“If you see something, if you hear something, say something,” he said at the presser. “Why a person would post on Facebook if they were this concerned about violence breaking out at this event, there were only three numbers they needed to remember, and that’s 911.”

Onofri said the township teacher was on vacation in North Carolina when she made the post Saturday around 11:25 a.m.

Prosecutors Skyped with Grady following the shooting and planned to formally interview her Tuesday. But she stopped talking to them and lawyered up.

Grady, who has not been charged with a crime, didn’t respond to a message. Her lawyer, however, went to bat on her behalf.

Lord said the teacher cancelled an appointment with prosecutors to give a statement because, “They were treating her like a criminal.”

This was posted to Facebook 15 hours before a shootout at Art All Night in Trenton.

The Trentonian was the first news outlet to publish the teacher’s foreboding Facebook post that said: “Please please DO NOT GO TO ART ALL NIGHT! THEY WILL BE SHOOTING IT UP!”

Grady’s words turned prophetic when feuding factions opened fire Sunday morning. Lord insisted her client didn’t have firsthand knowledge ahead of the shootout and only heard rumors floating on Facebook.

“She was posting based upon information she read,” Lord said. “It was something she had read and passed it on.”

Asked why the teacher didn’t contact the cops, Lord said Grady “assumed law enforcement knew because it was sent to law enforcement” by Booker.

The art festival shooting sent shockwaves through the community as leaders called for calm and healing.

Two men have been charged in connection with the melee that led to the death of one of the gunmen. Amir Armstrong, 23, and Davone White, 26, have been charged with weapons offenses while the third suspect, Tahaij Wells, was killed by police during the gun battle that sent a large crowd stampeding for safety. Armstrong and White, who both have had prior brushes with the law, remain hospitalized. Armstrong is in critical condition while White has been stabilized, officials said.

Wells was a reputed Bloods gangster known on the streets as N.O.R.E. in honor of Queens-based rapper Noreaga. Wells had denounced the gang while in prison serving time for aggravated manslaughter, most of it spent in solitary confinement.

The Bloods allegedly put a prison “hit” out on Wells for carrying out an “unauthorized” execution of fellow Bloods gangster Robert McNair.

Wells and his attorneys disputed it was a gangland slay in successfully pushing for him to get out of solitary confinement months ahead of his February release date.

Onofri said his office was contacted through its website Wednesday around 2 p.m. by the retired Hamilton cop. The prosecutor wouldn’t name the cop but relayed how the cop had alerted the Hamilton West police resource officer of Grady’s post at 12:28 p.m. Saturday, or about 63 minutes after Grady posted it online.

The prosecutor acknowledged some information “may have been forwarded to Trenton” but insisted he wasn’t aware of that when he spoke during Tuesday’s presser.

Lord didn’t see it that way.

“I think that the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office should get their facts straight before they start throwing stones in the direction of civilians who are just trying to make a living,” a fuming Lord said.

The consequences of officials’ finger-wagging have been stiff for Grady. Hamilton superintendent Scott Rocco said via email Wednesday morning the “employee in question will not be in her teaching assignment for the rest of the school year.”

Friday is the last day of classes, but teachers are appointed to work from Sept. 1 through June 30, meaning Grady is getting sidelined for the final 10 days of her contracted work schedule.

Rocco didn’t say in the email whether Grady would be paid for the remainder of the school year or whether the school will take disciplinary action against her. But Lord confirmed she was suspended with pay.

Onofri said at the presser he didn’t know whether police knew about the post prior to the shooting, though many people had apparently heard of or read the post. Even Mayor-elect Reed Gusciora said he received a Snapchat message of it from a Trenton teacher the morning after the firefight.

The prosecutor’s characterizations apparently miffed one rank-and-file cop who refused to stay silent. Lord claimed Booker was “mortified” over officials’ statements and contacted Trenton Police internal affairs to tell them what he knew. “He’s not going to let it go down like this,” Lord said.

Neither Booker nor a Trenton Police spokesman could be reached for comment.

Earlier in the day, Gusciora told The Trentonian it was important for investigators to determine whether Grady knew something more than what she shared on Facebook.

“All eyes are on her,” he said. “I’d be a little concerned about coming back to work. I’m sure she’s going to have a guilt trip for the rest of her life. I would hold off judgement until I find out more information. But if she had specific knowledge, it would be like me posting something like that.”

Gusciora had been at the event Saturday for about an hour starting around 7:30 p.m. He noticed a heavier police presence of about a dozen cops which was different from previous years.

Other questions still linger about whether more could have been done to prevent the shootout. Event organizers hired only four overtime police officers as security for an event that has attracted tens of thousands of people over the years, officials said. Organizers haven’t returned phone calls requesting comment about why more cops weren’t hired to staff the event.

Gusciora felt nothing could have prevented the shootout.

“No,” he said. “That’s something that, if an idiot is determined to shoot up a club, a school or an art festival, they have no conscience or respect for any kind of authority.”

Onofri credited the 40 cops, some of whom have been placed on paid administrative leave, for rapidly responding to the shooting and for preventing more carnage.

Grady began employment with the Hamilton Township School District in September 2013 as a health and physical education teacher at Steinert and Hamilton West high schools. She was also assistant coach of the track and winter track teams at Hamilton West during the 2013-14 schoolyear, according to school board records.

She started teaching at Wilson Elementary in September 2016 after getting transferred from Hamilton West, records show.

Her current annual salary is $49,596, and she also collected a $7,350 stipend for being the Hamilton West boys track head coach and $5,528 for being a Hamilton West winter track assistant coach in the 2017-18 schoolyear, according to school board documents.

Trentonian staff writer Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman contributed to this report.

Leaders call for healing following ‘post-Parkland’ shootout in Trenton

Isaac Avilucea — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 12:11:32 -0400

(left to right) Amir Armstrong, Tahaij Wells and Davone White

Authorities brought additional charges against two of the three suspects in a brazen art festival shootout early Sunday morning that injured nearly two dozen people and sent “innocent bystanders” stampeding for cover amid the hail of gunfire inside a warehouse at the Roebling Market.

The charges were announced at a news conference Tuesday called by community leaders and law enforcement officials to give an update on the investigation and push for calm and healing in what Mayor-elect Reed Gusciora described as a “post-Parkland” mass shooting, referring to the devastating school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Officials discussed details of a foreboding Facebook post made by a Hamilton teacher hours before the shootout, and more details emerged about the suspects involved.

“We will not accept our city being turned upside down,” Pastor John Taylor said at the outset of the presser.

Most of the victims have been treated and released from area hospitals, officials said.
Gusciora told The Trentonian he expects the groundswell of outrage over the shootout to pick up as the city recovers from “the aftershock of this event.”

“We have to get to the bottom of why somebody felt that was OK to turn this into the O.K. Corral,” the longtime 15th district leader said.

Two men, Davone White, 26, and Amir Armstrong, 23, were charged in connection with the Trenton shootout while a third suspect, Tahaij Wells, was killed by police. Wells had been released from prison months before the shootout after serving most of his 15-year bid in solitary confinement at Trenton state prison.

Gusciora said putting someone in solitary confinement for that long creates a “powder keg. It’s an explosion waiting to happen.”

Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri released the name of the third suspect, White, at the morning news conference at Friendship Baptist Church, where faith-based leaders met privately for a short time with stakeholders and law enforcement officials.

Authorities believe White has ties to gangs or street crews, which Onofri said have replaced more traditional street gangs in recent years.

“We’re not really experiencing Bloods and the Crips anymore,” Onofri said. “It is neighborhood by neighborhood gang affiliation.”

Investigators believe an ongoing dispute between neighborhood factions that were at the festival preceded the shooting, but the prosecutor stopped short of calling it a “turf war.”

“A lot of the shootings we’re seeing are retaliation for previous shootings,” Onofri said.

Each of the shootout suspects face gun charges from the firefight that happened around 2:45 a.m. as the Art All Night festival was shut down after fistfights started breaking out. Others may face charges. White was hit with a certain persons charge, meaning he has a prior felony conviction.

Armstrong was hit with being in possession of a stolen gun reported missing in 2014. He mostly skated in his past brushes with the law, with some charges downgraded to municipal court. He was also allowed into a pretrial intervention on drug charges.

Both suspects are still hospitalized. Armstrong is in critical condition while White is stable, Onofri said.

Onofri said investigators are still piecing together the volley of bullets and downloaded all possible surveillance that may have captured the gun battle.

Event organizers hired only four overtime Trenton cops as security for an event that has attracted tens of thousands of people over the years, the prosecutor said. About 40 cops responded to the shooting. There were no metal detectors at the event.

“There will be a stronger presence at these events,” Onofri promised, crediting police for quickly responding and mitigating the carnage. “We are never going to arrest or prosecute or incarcerate our way out of gun violence. It has to start in the community.”

White, who allegedly had an illegal high-capacity magazine that held up to 30 bullets, has a notorious background that includes convictions for aggravated assault and drugs, according to court records. He was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault and robbery following an incident on May 4, 2016. He served only a day in jail after appearing to post bail, court records show.

White pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, admitting to a single count of third-degree aggravated assault, and walked away with two years of probation when he was sentenced in March.

White picked up a charge of having a prohibited weapon and devices for having hollow-point bullets in March. The case was dismissed by prosecutors May 2, according to court records. Another drug possession charge from June 2017 was downgraded and resolved in municipal court.

The Facebook post made by Danielle Grady dominated the presser as Onofri revealed the woman behind the post is a Hamilton teacher.

Grady is listed on a roster at Wilson Elementary in the township. Onofri couldn’t say when police became aware of the post.

The Trentonian previously reported the post was made around 11:25 a.m. Saturday: “Please please DO NOT GO TO ART ALL NIGHT! THEY WILL BE SHOOTING IT UP!”

Grady was in North Carolina on vacation at the time she made the post, Onofri said. Investigators Skyped with her after the shooting and planned to formally interview her Tuesday about what she knew but she lawyered up, Onofri said. He laid into her for not contacting police.

“If you see something, if you hear something, say something,” the county’s top prosecutor said. “Why a person would post on Facebook if they were this concerned about violence breaking out at this event, there were only three numbers they needed to remember, and that’s 911.”

Grady was employed by the Hamilton Township School District in September 2013 as a health and physical education teacher at Steinert and Hamilton West high schools. She was also assistant coach of the track and winter track teams at Hamilton West during the 2013-14 schoolyear, according to school board records.

Grady started teaching at Wilson Elementary in September 2016 after getting transferred from Hamilton West, records show.

The district didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment on her employment status.

The post circulated around as Gusciora said he received a Snapchat message of the post the morning after the shooting from a Trenton teacher.

“You have to remember that teachers are at the front lines and kids are smart,” the mayor-elect said. “I’m sure there were discussions among peers that often are reported to their teacher. The next responsible thing is for the teachers then to notify law enforcement. A lot of prevention is from peer-to-peer contact and then they notify an adult.”

Police director Ernest Parrey Jr. was “not aware” of any calls to police forewarning of potential violence.

Onofri also revealed that as many as seven others went to St. Francis hospital suffering from “scrapes and bruises” and other injuries sustained when people ran and trampled others in trying to escape the deadly chaos. The number of shooting victims remained unchanged, he said.

Onofri acknowledged after the presser heavier charges could be filed against the two shootout suspects as the investigation progresses.

He wouldn’t say how many police officers fired shots during the melee or whether they have been placed on standard paid administrative lead as the prosecutor’s office probes the use of force. That investigation will be reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office once its complete.

Mayor Eric Jackson, AG Gurbir Grewal and State Police Col. Patrick Callahan also attended the presser and gave remarks.

West Ward Councilwoman-elect Robin Vaughn wrote a letter to the AG calling for a thorough investigation of the shootout.

Jackson stressed the all-night art event is important to the capital city, bringing in 25,000 people ever year.

“We will make this event bigger, brighter, safer and better,” he said.

Gusciora said the city must take steps to mend the wound, starting by making public safety the main priority and beefing up the city’s recreational budget to give youth a healthy outlet to channel pent-up rage rather than resorting to violence.

“We have to have those Parkland-type discussions,” Gusciora said, “where students are encouraged to vent out their frustrations or what they hear. A successful city can’t have this disconnect between the community and the police.”

Trentonian staff writer Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman contributed to this report.

Art festival shooter worried about life after prison: ‘I accomplished nothing’

Isaac Avilucea — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:01:08 -0400

Tahaij Wells

Tahaij Wells, the gunman killed in a shootout at an arts festival early Sunday morning, spent most of his life in solitary confinement as authorities claimed they kept him there to prevent his own gang from killing him in prison after they put out a “hit” on him for the “unauthorized” execution of a fellow gangster.

The slay apparently didn’t go over well with top dawgs of the Bloods street gang and they ordered a “terminate on sight” for Wells, according to a Department of Corrections investigator who testified in court proceedings related to Wells’ federal court push to get out of solitary confinement.

The cops got to Wells before the gang did.

Wells, who had a rap sheet that included manslaughter and racketeering convictions, was shot and killed by police early Sunday morning following a shootout with rivals inside a warehouse at the Roebling Market, where thousands gathered for the Art All Night festival, an annual event in Trenton that has attracted artists from all over.

Wells had just been released from prison after serving a 18-year bid in Trenton state prison for aggravated manslaughter, most of that time in solitary confinement, which one expert testified exacerbated his mental health issues and caused him to be “emotionally stunted.”

Trenton is still reeling from the sensational mass shooting that plunged the eight-quare-mile city into the national headlines. Residents fretted about more bad publicity for a city that has seen enough, as news vans camped out in the parking lot of the market Monday, leaving one-by-one as interest in the neighborhood fued waned following a rash of coverage on mass shootings across the nation.

Police still tightly guarded the sprawling crime scene, roped off by yellow tape, and an officer shooed away one man as he tried to duck under the crime tape. Trenton Police set up a command center on South Clinton Avenue as investigators combed through the evidence.

While authorities revealed little else about what sparked the violent mass shooting, a review of hundreds of pages of court transcripts obtained by The Trentonian provided a peek into the behind-bars life of Wells, a bleak existence that perhaps foreshadowed the inglorious kamikaze manner in which he left this life: gun-blazing with an illegal extended clip, mercilessly firing upon rivals during a shootout, before being gunned down by cops.

Wells sadly summed up his life when he testified as part of a federal push he made to get out of solitary confinement, unable to fathom how he’d support himself once he was free.

“I’ve accomplished nothing,” he said, according to the transcript. “The most job training I had was sweeping the floor.”

Darren “Freedom” Green, a community activist who remembered coming across teenage Wells when he was shift commander at the now-shuttered Mercer County Youth Detention Center, said the gunman “wasn’t evil. He never had a chance.”

“There’s a Tahaij Wells in every community,” Green explained, saying he wasn’t justifying the shooting only explaining what factors may have caused Wells to step over the edge. “If we’re not reaching them, we set ourselves up for failure. He was gonna explode somewhere.”

It happened to be as the arts festival was being shut down.

Several fights had been brewing just before the gunfire erupted, injuring a double-digit number of people, including a teenager. The melee happened days after Gov. Phil Murphy signed six gun control bills into law.

Speaking at the Galilee Baptist Church — the site of another gang-related shootout that happened during a funeral in 2014 — Murphy called the shooting “another reminder of the senseless gun violence.”

Amir Armstrong

Police have two other shooting suspects in custody: Amir Armstrong, 23, and another individual they haven’t identified. Investigators are searching for others who may have been involved. Police sources who spoke on condition of anonymity say more than 70 shell casings were found at the scene along with multiple weapons.

Armstrong, who remains hospitalized in stable condition, has only been hit with a weapons charge though heavier charges may be coming.

Court records show Armstrong had a resisting charge downgraded to municipal court in 2017. And a drug distribution charge he faced the year before was dismissed after he completed pretrial intervention, according to court records.

Wells’ History

Prior to becoming one of the infamous art festival gunmen, Wells spent years fighting his placement in “involuntary protective custody” at Trenton state prison where he served out most of his aggravated manslaughter conviction for killing Robert McNair after the two had beefed “over something stupid like a car.”

Authorities portrayed the killing as a gangland slay, according to court documents, but Wells disputed his victim was even a gang member.

Wells, an admitted Bloods gangster, was born to an absent father and a drug-addicted mother who had her throat slashed in a grisly murder that happened in July 1996, when Wells was in grade school, court records show.

“I never heard him talk about his parents,” Green said.

Wells struggled in classes, trying to keep up as he bounced from school to school, unable to stay out of trouble, the records show.

Wells attended Monument school before getting shipped to an alternative school — Archway in Atco — where he was bussed to school early every morning, starting in fifth grade.

“I was just acting out and not paying attention, and that was around the time my mother got killed,” Wells, who grew up with his grandmother on Passaic Street, testified at a hearing, according to the transcript. “I was getting in trouble, going to the youth house all the time.”

Wells, 17 years old at the time of McNair’s killing, was tried as an adult. He reached a pact with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter in exchange for an 18-year bid, more than 15 years which were mandatory.

While doing time for McNair’s slaying, Wells got wrapped up as the prison yard “middle man” in a racketeering case aimed at a set of the Bloods. His sister, Ebony Meyers, who died in 2013, went down in the mess, too, hit with a 10-year sentence for her role, according to news reports.

Wells got a concurrent six year bid for admitting his culpability in the racketeering case. He had just been released from prison a few months before the art festival shootout.

Wells landed up in protective custody for about 13 years, based upon intel from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and jail internal affairs officials, who claimed they were trying to protect him behind bars after his death warrant had been signed by the Bloods.

For years, Wells pushed to get out of solitary confinement, but his fight, first with him acting as his own attorney, went nowhere.

A dropout with little more than a ninth-grade education, much of that time spent in special education classes, Wells couldn’t figure out how to navigate the court system. He struggled to gain ay traction, and his case was dismissed a month after being filed. The case was later reinstated, and a law firm eventually took up Wells’ cause in agreeing to represent him pro bono.

With help from the lawyers, Wells successfully convinced a judge to allow him back into the prison’s general population ahead of his February release date.

While in protective custody, Wells and his lawyers contended his life was hell. He was on 22-hour lockdown and had limited interactions with other inmates or access to re-entry programming that would have helped pave the way for his reintegration into society. He ate and showered in his cell and was only allowed out for 90 minutes, three times a week for recreation time.

During rec time, he was placed in a so-called “dog cage.”

Wells was constantly subjected to strip searches and other invasive tactics. The isolation Wells experienced in solitary confinement was harmful, his attorneys said and a clinical psychologist testified, according to court records.

Bouncing Around

Wells was housed at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility for some time. The DOC’s Special Investigations Division had Wells taken out of general population after allegedly learning he was a marked man.

Throughout his prison stay, Wells either didn’t receive annual reviews of his IPC placement or his placement was reaffirmed following hearings that were “hollow formalities,” as authorities contended the threat was still active, court records show.

Wells felt “perfectly safe” and wanted to go to general population, and his attorneys contested the threat existed or had been exaggerated. Wells testified about the conditions he experienced in solitary confinement at Garden State.

“Disgusting,” he said, according to the transcript. “The room was like super dirty, feces ring around the toilet like they, uh — somebody missed the toilet when he was urinating, so it was pee around toilet and stuff.

Conditions weren’t much better in Trenton as he bounced around prisons across the state.

“The COs have to open all the doors with a key, and the rooms is like not even bigger than a closet,” Wells said. “If you turn over in your bed, your face is literally in the toilet.”

Wells claimed he tried to leave the gang life, graduating from a denouncement program in 2006, while he was at Northern State Prison. From there, he asked to be placed at East Jersey State Prison because he “always heard that they out all day, they got good jobs, and stuff like that, so that’s where I wanted to go.”

Once he arrived, he was in general population for two days before being put back into solitary, according to the court records.

“I went to the big yard, walked around with the mess...They told me to go to the clothing shop, I went and got my clothes. And the next day, like ten officers came in my cell, told me to turn around, back out, put my hands behind my back. I didn’t know — I thought that I did something wrong. They handcuffed me, took me to lock-up, and told me that I’m going back to Trenton, New Jersey,” he testified. “It was deflating, like watching the balloons while you let all the air out of it...I was about to do my time, I was out, going to the big yard, I could sign up for schools and programs down there, but I never got a chance to.”

Wells tried to maintain hope while he was imprisoned, wishing for a better life despite his hardscrabble upbringing. But he was afraid of how he’d get by on the outside, something he shared with Green, the community activist, a couple weeks before the shootout.

“I spent my whole adult life in a cell, all day with nothing to do,” Wells testified. “You concerned about going back out into the real world...It’s going to be difficult and without really education or any kind of trades or anything like that.”

Green said the shooter was “damaged goods,” in trying to understand what contributed to his blowup.

Wells described himself as socially anxious.

“That probably is the most scariest thing, because I never really been around people a lot, so it’s awkward, conversations is awkward,” he testified, adding he struggled with anger from “being in that cell all day. Your emotion is just up and down. You’re angry, sad, mad. You’re all over the place, because you’re in the cell all day, pacing.”

Dr. Maureen Santina, a clinical psychologist who evaluated Wells, testified he suffered from generalized anxiety disorder and was devastated over his mother’s death. He turned to smoking pot, and things worsened from there.

“It was the only thing that made him feel calmer,” Santina said, according to the transcript. “He had given up on himself and life. He said, ‘I just didn’t care anymore.’”

The psychologist pushed for Wells to be put back into general population where he’d have more healthy interactions and opportunities before his release. The expert sounded prophetic on the stand when detailing the impact of Wells’ depression on his ability to blend into society.

“They don’t become mopey and sad and sit around,” Santina said. “The way that adolescents manifest depression is generally in the form of irritability, anger, defiance at school. And these are often the actual clinical manifestations of serious depression in adolescents...I think they will be exacerbated when he is released into the community, because he will not be prepared to be able to respond in a mature, stable matter. He hasn’t had those opportunities. He’s essentially going to be going out with the coping skills and social maturity of a damaged 17-year-old versus having had the opportunities to learn self-control, self-discipline, to learn how to manage anxiety, to keep his emotions under control.”

Police investigate a fatal shooting that injured 20 people at the Art All Night celebration in Trenton. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Several shot, one killed at Art All Night in Trenton

Penny Ray — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 06:39:28 -0400

Multiple people were shot at the annual Art All Night celebration in Trenton (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A 24-hour celebration that showcases local artists became the Wild West early Sunday morning amidst a fight inside a warehouse.

One person was killed and numerous others were injured in a shootout that happened at the Art All Night (AAN) celebration in the Roebling Market section of the city. Officials say approximately 1,000 people were at the event, with a large number of them hanging outside the warehouse.

“When we got here around 2:30, it didn’t look like we were coming to Art All Night,” city resident Franco Roberts said. “It looked like we were outside of a Philadelphia club after the bar closes and people who don’t want to leave are standing around their cars smoking and drinking.”

Roberts and his girlfriend had a feeling something bad was going to happen because there were “more people outside than in the warehouse” and no music was playing inside, he said.

“There's usually a lot of noise and a lot of music but there was none of that,” Roberts, who has attended AAN for the past four years, said. “Someone told us they were shutting down the whole building. Then we turned around and saw people squaring up to fight.”

And that’s when gunshots rang out.

“I saw two punches and then heard several gunshots,” Roberts said.

Roberts said chaos ensued as people fled from the building. He and other witnesses did not know exactly how many people fired shots, but they say it sounded as if there was more than one gunman.

"Everybody ran toward the door,” he said. “And the people fighting got mixed with the crowd that was running and they went out the door shooting.”

Officials say prior to the shooting there were numerous physical altercations that took place both inside and outside the warehouse, prompting police to shut down the event.

"There was a report that the mood inside the venue had been changing," Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said at a press conference Sunday. "Those individuals, however, continued to loiter and additional fights broke out. Then the shooting occurred."

Authorities say off- and on-duty police in the area fired their service weapons as the suspects fled the building while shooting at each other.

"The impetus for police returning fire were the individuals shooting at each other," Onofri said. "Many of the event organizers have been praising the Trenton Police Department, and frankly if it wasn't for their quick and decisive response, I think we'd be talking about more victims."

Tahaij Wells (left) and Amir Armstrong

Tahaij Wells, 32, died at the hospital after suffering gunshot wounds during the melee. Officials say he was one of the suspects exchanging gunfire with others inside the warehouse before running outside. Though ballistics tests have not been completed, investigators believe he was shot by a cop after police saw him engaged in the shootout.

Wells was recently released from prison and had been on parole since February on homicide-related charges, Onofri said.

At least 17 people were struck by gunfire, including a 13-year-old boy who was initially hospitalized in extremely critical condition. At an evening press conference officials said the teen's condition had been upgraded to stable. A total of 22 people were taken to the hospital to treat injuries sustained during the incident.

Besides Wells, two of those victims are suspected gunmen. Amir Armstrong, 23, was listed in stable condition as of press time, and another suspect whose name was not released remained in critical condition Sunday night. Armstrong has been charged with a weapons offense in connection with the shootout, according to prosecutors.

Authorities say other suspects remain on the run.

Police sources who spoke on condition of anonymity say more than 70 shell casings were found at the scene following the shooting, and that multiple weapons were recovered, including one equipped with a high-capacity magazine.

This was posted to Facebook 15 hours before a shootout at Art All Night in Trenton.

Law enforcement sources believe the fight and subsequent shooting was the result of ongoing beef between rival street crews. Social media posts suggests there was chatter about the shooting more than 15 hours before it actually happened. Danielle Grady posted a Facebook status update around 11:25 a.m. Saturday that said:

"Please please DO NOT GO TO ART ALL NIGHT! THEY WILL BE SHOOTING IT UP!"

"In Trenton, most of our conflicts are a result of neighborhood feuding," Police Director Earnest Parrey Jr. told reporters, adding that most of the guns used in capital city violence are trafficked into Trenton from other municipalities.

A victim who suffered abrasions while being trampled by stampeding witnesses said he wasn't surprised that something violent happened after seeing the crowd of people partying in the parking lot as opposed to viewing art and enjoying music inside the warehouse.

"When I first got here I said to myself, 'This is not an art crowd,'" the victim said as he pointed to empty bottles of Remy Martin and blunt wrappers littering the ground. "This was the type of crowd you normally see at the Getty Gas station late at night: you know, younger guys trying to peacock. Some of them took pictures of the art as if it was more of a joke. They were not appreciators of art. We have to raise these kids better. People wonder why stuff like this happens and it's because the kids aren't raised the right way."

The Roebling Market parking lot was covered in trash, broken glass and liquor bottles Sunday as police processed the scene for evidence. Regular patrons of AAN say the event is usually cleaner than what was seen in the aftermath of the shooting.

Now in its 12th year, Art All Night is a 24-hour art and entertainment event that's held annually on the third weekend in June. In past years, tens of thousands of people attended the event, which showcases work from local artists. The celebration was scheduled to continue into Sunday afternoon, but it was shut down due to the violence.

Officials say no metal detectors were used to check people for weapons before entering the historic Roebling Wire Works factory building where most of the art is showcased during the event.

Mayor Eric Jackson, who has less than two weeks left in office, said he met with event organizers months in advance and discussed security. Jackson said all parties decided to have additional police officers on scene in addition to security provided by AAN personnel. He said they decided to increase the police presence at the event this year because the "crowd grows every year," but said he had no knowledge of a specific threat prior to the shooting.

Irving Higginbotham, who is related to West Ward councilwoman-elect Robin Vaughn, suffered four gunshot wounds to the leg. Vaughn said current city officials failed to protect the residents of Trenton.

"As leaders of the city, we should leverage some of the recommendations (regarding safety in public spaces) that come from other law enforcement agencies," Vaughn said via phone.

Jackson said his administration has been working to stem violent crime.

"This is truly a tragedy for Trenton," Jackson said at a press conference Sunday morning after the incident. "All shootings, whether large or small, are a crisis. It's a fact that our cities, as well as our suburbs, throughout America are experiencing an increase in public shootings and public unrest. This isn't some random act of violence; this is a public health issue. We are working cooperatively and collaboratively with parents and law enforcement to end this violence in the city of Trenton."

Ernie Rivas, who owns a store located in Roebling Market, said the shooting ruined Father's Day. He said he was at a beach house with family when he received a call about the incident, and that he rushed into Trenton as soon as he could.

"This is affecting my business very much," Rivas said as he pointed to trash covering the parking lot. "You can see a difference from last year. This is out of control filthy. I found bottles of wine and beer all over the ground in front of my store."

Mayor-elect Reed Gusciora said public safety is at the top of his priority list when he is sworn into office next month.

"We must do all we can to make our neighborhoods and streets safe for Trenton residents and our visitors," Gusciora said in a written statement. "I hope that Art All Night does continue but we are going to have to reevaluate security measures in the future. It will be a top priority of my administration to make Trenton a safer city."

Joe Kuzemka, the director of Art All Night, declined to comment by phone and referred media inquiries to a statement released on the event's Facebook page.

"It’s with great regret that we announce that the remainder of Art All Night has been cancelled due to a tragic incident that occurred overnight," the statement said. "We’re still processing much of this and we don’t have many answers at this time but please know that our staff, our volunteers, our artists and musicians all seem to be healthy and accounted for. Our sincere, heartfelt sympathies are with those who were injured...We’re very shocked. We’re deeply saddened. Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade. Not tonight. Not ever."

Detectives are also investigating an attempted carjacking that happened in the aftermath of the shooting in an alley near Dye Street. Officials say three people were in a car when a male approached the vehicle and "may or may not have" pointed a gun at the occupants before fleeing on foot.

The shooting is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 609-989-6406.

Police investigate a fatal shooting that injured 20 people at the Art All Night celebration in Trenton. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)