Two killed in separate morning slayings in Trenton
TRENTON » The capital city experienced a third murder in fewer than 48 hours, as two men were shot to death hours apart Monday morning — this coming after Saturday’s triple shooting that left a man dead and wounded two others, including a former reputed Bloods gangster.
The murders were part of a violent stretch of five shootings since Saturday as the city remains under a relaxed 9 p.m. curfew due to ongoing gunplay and the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is disheartening to see the loss of life because of petty grievances and domestic violence,” Mayor Reed Gusciora said in a statement.
Monday’s first slaying happened around 12:30 a.m. on the first block of Oakland Street.
Authorities said 18-year-old Tayvion Jones was found shot in the chest inside his kitchen. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police identified the suspect and took him into custody, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. His name was being withheld because charges haven’t been filed.
Trenton Police Lt. Jason Kmiec said there was “no indication” that Jones’ killing on Oakland Street was related to Saturday’s murder, but detectives were just beginning to dig into that case when they were called out for the third slaying in the last 33 hours.
That one happened more than five hours later, in the same part of the city where Saturday’s killing of Robert Smith, 38, of Trenton, occurred.
Officials said the killing happened around 9 a.m. on Daymond Street. The victim was shot shot multiple times and later pronounced dead at the hospital.
The victim’s was identified as 44-year-old Antwuan Bowens, 44, of Trenton.
A source told police they saw a black man dressed in dark clothing and a black mask at the end of the block near where the shooting occurred.
The source also told cops they believed the assailants may have made off in a maroon sedan that drove down Power Street, away from the where the victim was mowed down.
It’s unclear if the homicides are linked to Saturday’s triple shooting that claimed Smith and injured former Bloods leader Earlie Harrell and a 19-year-old Hamilton man.
The suspects in Saturday’s slaying sprayed up a Daymond
Street home, where between 30 and 40 people were gathered for a cookout despite the city’s curfew still being in force.
Polices sources anticipated retaliatory strikes after Harrell — once a big-time member of the Bloods featured in the History Channel’s “Gangland” segment on Trenton’s Sex, Money, Murder set — was shot in the back in the area of Power and Daymond streets around 11:40 p.m. Saturday.
Cops recovered more than a dozen shell casings, and two vehicles were also struck around 11:40 p.m.
No arrests have been announced in Smith’s slaying.
Police were investigating any connection to a fight that happened about 21 hours before Saturday’s murder.
The altercation involved Bessie Harrell, 31, who was charged with disorderly conduct after she allegedly tried to start a fight with a 26-year-old woman in front of cops, Kmiec said.
It’s unclear how Bessie Harrell may be related to Earlie Harrell.
The women were at a cookout earlier when Bessie Harrell grew irate with the victim for allegedly holding up the line, cops said.
Bessie Harrell allegedly hit the woman multiple times but wasn’t charged with assault because the cops didn’t witness the initial altercation, Kmiec said.
An unknown male allegedly clocked Bessie Harrell in the head before running off.
She later got into it with the same victim in front of cops, Kmiec said.
The woman who was beaten up refused medical treatment and was told she could sign a simple assault complaint against Bessie Harrell.
Trenton Police also responded to two more shootings Sunday.
Around 1 p.m. Sunday, a 15-year-old girl showed up to Capital Health Regional Medical Center with a wound to her right thigh, police said.
Kmiec said police believe the shooting happened in the area of Edgewood and Hermitage avenues but officers did not find a scene out there.
Officers didn’t have much to go off of as the woman wasn’t cooperating but ended up charging Nazere Crews, 18, of Edgewood Avenue, with assault, weapons offenses and tampering with evidence.
Cops determined Crews was somehow involved in the shooting, but TPD didn’t have more information about what led officers to him.
Another man was shot in the arm around 7 p.m., near Daymond and Power streets, police said.
The 34-year-old man walked up to officers in the area and showed them a gunshot on his right forearm. He refused treatment and to cooperate.
Trenton Police issued 61 citations for curfew violations over the weekend and plan to step up patrols in the crime hotspots, police director Sheilah Coley said in a statement.
“We are monitoring this pattern of violence on an hourly basis,” she said. “We have concentrated our efforts in areas that have caused problems for residents and we will meet the expectation to increase patrols when needed.”
Cops ask anyone with information about the killings to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-9896406 or email mchtftips@mercercounty.org.