A city man with a history of sexual assault snapped when he saw police at his doorstep, leading to a standoff that left an innocent bystander dead.

As of press time Wednesday night, the suspect — identified as 35-year-old Tyleeb Reese — was still barricaded in a Centre Street home with police surrounding the building.

Officials say members of the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force served a sexual assault warrant at Reese’s home in the 300 block of Centre Street around 6:45 a.m. Police say officers entered the home and were engaged in gunfire by the suspect. Law enforcement then retreated while ducking fire and Reese retreated back into the house, where he remained barricaded until at least 10 p.m. Wednesday.

While Reese was in the house he exchanged gunfire with police and shot and killed an innocent bystander who was crawling to a safe place for cover behind a car near the cops. Officials have identified Robert Powell Jr., age 56, of Lamberton Street.

Three Mercer County Sheriff’s Officers were also struck by gunfire. All three officers were treated and released after being treated for injuries. Witnesses at the scene said Reese used a shotgun, or possibly a long gun, but police would not confirm that detail.

It’s unclear whether Reese was also hit by gunfire during the shootout.

The Centre Street home where the shooting happened is owned by Reese’s relatives, property records show.

Officials actively tried to negotiate with Reese throughout the day. Police allowed several of Reese’s relatives to call him in an attempt to negotiate a peaceful surrender. Police also used a bullhorn on several occasions trying to convince him to exit the house.

Sources said Resse wanted to come out of the house but was afraid he’s was going to be shot.

Police do not know if there is anyone in the house with Reese, or the layout of the property, which is why they did not breach the home immediately.

Police used a sniper to watch Reese through a window.

New Jersey State Police TEAMS unit officers are seen moving the body of a man killed during a shootout with police. The alleged shooter barricaded himself inside after a shootout with police on May 10, 2017. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Officials confirmed  the identity of the deceased victim early Thursday morning, who lied in the middle of the street at the corner of Federal and Centre until 1:20 p.m., when police removed his body using a SWAT vehicle as cover.

“This whole street is a powder keg. There’s always something going on in these alleys and back streets,” a witness said.

Around 8:30 a.m., police knocked on doors and forced residents of the 400 block of Centre Street to evacuate their homes. Meanwhile, some residents in the 300 block remained trapped inside their house until just before dark when cops helped some of them exit their property safely.

During the day, SWAT team members were seen running through the streets with rifles looking for a safe vantage point. At one point, a couple streets over, a school bus picked up kids, prompting residents to question why schools in the area were not shut down.

Police tossed tear gas into Reese's home twice, but it was not clear if the gas had any impact on him.

After visiting the scene Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Eric Jackson described the standoff as an “unfortunate scenario for all involved.”

“I am pleased that our law enforcement community, from the U.S. Marshals Office, to the Sheriff’s Office, Prosecutor’s Office and Trenton PD, are working collectively to try to resolve this as best they can given the circumstances that confront them,” the mayor said. “So I’m hopeful for the best possible outcome that can happen at this point.”

Neighbors who were sitting on their stoops near the crime scene said Reese was a “good guy” who just snapped.

“He’s very friendly and has a good character,” said one woman, who just got off the phone with the suspect’s ex-girlfriend. “We’re just as shocked as everyone else.”

Neighbors know Reese by his nickname “T” and said he just broke up with his girlfriend a few weeks ago.

“A lot is probably going on in his head stemming from the breakup,” one acquaintance said. “But I don’t think that would be a reason to do all this. He doesn’t seem like the type of person to do this over a girl. It has to be something bigger.”

Reese has a criminal record, which includes convictions of criminal sexual contact, failure to register on Megan’s Law and resisting arrest.

Standoffs in Trenton are nothing new.

The last deadly standoff occurred four years ago.

In May 2013, 38-year-old Gerald Murphy was shot and killed by police during a 37-hour standoff in a Grand Street home after he killed his girlfriend, her 13-year-old son, and held the woman’s three other children hostage at gunpoint.

It was a long ordeal that was carried out over three days and gained national media attention after police discovered the mother’s decomposed body in the home during a welfare check. When Murphy pulled a gun, officers retreated from the house and began the long standoff.

Police eventually raided the home following a loud explosion in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, May 12 and shot Murphy dead.

The affair forced neighbors out of their homes and kept an entire city on edge.

Then on Christmas Eve in 2013, another standoff occurred inside an apartment on the 200 block of Coolidge Avenue involving a hostage situation.

Kevin Robinson eventually surrendered peacefully four hours later after he held his 19-year-old daughter and her two children captive at gunpoint.

Dating back to 2013, there have been at least one police-involved shooting in the capital city each year, including the Murphy standoff.

In August 2013, Eric McNeil, 23, was justifiably shot and killed by police after he ambushed two detectives as they were escorting a domestic violence victim back to her Hobart Avenue home.

In November 2014, 31-year-old Darnell Stafford was shot and killed by cops after he fired gunshots through the windshield of their police cruiser on Wilson Street.

The following year, police shot 23-year-old Jeremiah Sanchez in the neck and arm after he allegedly hit an officer with his car while fleeing from the first block of Chestnut Avenue. Sanchez survived the shooting.

In August 2016, 34-year-old Alfred Toe was shot and killed by an off-duty Trenton police officer after he allegedly tried to wrestle a handgun away from the cop.

Police guard the body of a homicide victim as the suspect is barricaded inside of a home on the 300 block of Centre St. in Trenton. (Penny Ray — The Trentonian)

Tyleeb Reese surrenders to police after a 35-hour standoff in Trenton. (submitted photo)

The standoff that lasted close to 35 hours in Trenton has ended peacefully.

Trenton standoff suspect Tyleeb Reese surrendered to police just after 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Reese, the suspected triggerman, engaged U.S. Marshals in a gunfight that left a civilian dead and three officers wounded. Reese then retreated to his family’s home on the 300 block of Centre Street and barricaded himself inside as police attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution the past two days.

“Go Tyleeb!” people shouted when a shirtless Reese exited his home about 5 p.m. Thursday with his hands on his head.

Earlier in the day, with 35-year-old Tyleeb Reese still holed up inside the house and a large police presence surrounding the neighborhood, one resident urged police to hurry up and end the standoff, saying, “They are taking too long.”

The standoff began about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday when members of a U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force served a sexual assault warrant at Reese’s home on the 300 block of Centre Street. Police say officers entered the home and were engaged in gunfire by the suspect.

While Reese was in the house he allegedly exchanged gunfire with police and shot and killed an innocent bystander who was crawling to a safe place for cover behind a car near the cops. Officials have identified the deceased victim as Robert Powell Jr., 56, of Lamberton Street.

“He was an honest guy but was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” city man Angel Rivera, 40, said Thursday morning of Powell. Rivera said he did not know Powell too well but knew him to be a gentleman who “helped out a lot” in the neighborhood.

Police guard the body of a homicide victim as the suspect is barricaded inside of a home on the 300 block of Centre St. in Trenton. (Penny Ray — The Trentonian)

Three Mercer County Sheriff’s Officers were also struck by gunfire in the gunfight with the suspect. All three officers were treated and released after being treated for injuries. Witnesses at the scene said Reese used a shotgun, or possibly a long gun, but police would not confirm that detail.

At a press briefing about 11 a.m. Thursday, Capt. Brian Polite of the New Jersey State Police said tactical assets personnel were engaged in ongoing negotiations with Reese.

Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson said the city on Wednesday served more than 450 meals to residents in the South Trenton neighborhood and said the city’s senior center on South Broad Street was being used as a shelter site for any residents who had to evacuate their homes as a result of the standoff.

“We are hoping to bring this matter to a resolve as quickly and as effectively as we can,” Jackson said. “I can assure you, though, that law-enforcement assets of all that are involved have been working tirelessly and working with professionalism to resolve this matter, and I urge the residents of our city to stay calm to continue to give the law-enforcement officers and agencies the opportunity to do their job to bring a peaceful resolution to this matter.”

Police scanners reported that shots were fired Wednesday night and that the barricaded suspect may have suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.

Reese’s father is a retired New Jersey state corrections officer, according to his mother Jeannette Bennett, who said she did not know her son had a firearm in his possession.

Action intensifies

During Day 2 of the standoff, several patrons bought sandwiches from the La Caribena Grocery store at 418 Centre St. late Thursday morning. They had to enter the establishment from the rear.

“I feel bad,” La Caribena owner Sergio Azcona said, “because I’m losing money. I have to pay money, taxes and everything. It’s crazy.”

At one point during the standoff, a police officer entered the La Caribena business Thursday morning and asked Azcona if he could use the restroom. The business owner happily obliged.

Among the few people who patronized the business on Thursday was Angel Rivera, who bought a cheesesteak. He said his girlfriend works with Reese’s mother at a welfare office and said the talk of the workplace was that Reese told his mom he would not surrender to police.

“He’s not going back to jail. That’s what his exact words were,” Rivera said. Calling the incident “sad,” Rivera said he believed that Reese may have mental health issues.

Mayor Jackson during the standoff said he was in contact with the suspect’s mother and said “she’s in good spirits as best as she can be at this time.”

Reese has a history of sexual assault, but area residents on Thursday continued to describe him as “a good guy.”

“I’m glad they didn’t kill him,” said Reese’s next-door neighbor Nate Myers. “He’s a good dude. I don’t know where this came from.”

Myers said police about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday entered into his home and ordered him and his three children to evacuate. “I thought that was stupid and disrespectful,” he said, adding his family had a place to stay and did not need to seek shelter at the city’s senior center on South Broad Street. “I’m ready to go home now,” Myers said shortly after the standoff came to a peaceful resolution.

Notably absent from the scene was Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr., who was participating in the annual Police Unity Tour as he has in the last two years.

Trenton Police Detective Lt. Stephen Varn confirmed Parrey’s participation in the unity tour and said the police director “is in continuous contact with the command staff of the department and receiving constant updates of not only the incident on Centre Street but also other department matters.”

The primary purpose of the Police Unity Tour is to raise awareness of law-enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. The secondary purpose is to raise funds for the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial and Museum, according to the unity tour’s website.

The 2017 ride left North Jersey on Tuesday and was scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Friday and conclude over the weekend with a candlelight vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

Investigation ongoing

Minutes after Reese surrendered on Thursday, New Jersey State Police spokesman Lawrence Peele gave a brief press statement saying, “Shortly after 5 p.m. tonight, the suspect Tyleeb Reese surrendered peacefully, exited the residence and was taken into custody without incident. There were no injuries to the suspect or to law enforcement.”

Peele said the police investigation remains ongoing but declined to say anything more, saying, “We will have more information at a later time.”

Blood continues to spill onto capital city streets this violent month of May.

A woman was stabbed to death overnight, marking the city's third murder in three weeks and its eighth homicide this year.

Officials say police received a call regarding a female screaming for help around 11:11 p.m. Sunday. A police spokesperson could not confirm whether the call was placed by the victim or a bystander who heard the screams.

Police were then dispatched to the rear of the 900 block of South Broad Street where they found 48-year-old Brenda Garzio, of Hamilton, suffering from multiple stab wounds.

Garzio was pronounced dead at the scene.

As of now, no one has been arrested in connection with the killing and police do not have a suspect description.

This is a developing story.

A 48-year-old Hamilton woman was stabbed to death on the 900 block of South Broad Street in Trenton on Sunday, May 28, 2017. (SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN - The Trentonian)

Blood continued to spill onto capital city streets during this violent month of May as a woman was stabbed to death over the Memorial Day weekend.

Brenda Garzio, 48, of Hamilton, became Trenton’s eighth homicide victim of 2017 late Sunday night. She was screaming for help about 11:10 p.m. on the 900 block of South Broad Street and police quickly found her suffering from multiple stab wounds, officials said, adding the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brenda Garzio

A resident who lives near the murder site said he had heard the woman calling out for help late Sunday night.

“She was saying, ‘Help me! Help me!,’” the resident, who identified himself as Jose, said Monday morning as he was smoking a cigarette on his front porch. Jose was relaxing inside his house at the time of the incident. He said he looked out of his window upon hearing the woman’s loud screams but noted it was too dark for him to see anything. Minutes later, police arrived on the scene, he said, to investigate what turned out to be the city’s third slaying in three weeks.

The killing appears to have occurred in the alleyway space between 993 and 995 S. Broad Street. Police as of Monday evening have not announced any arrests in connection with the incident and did not have a suspect description. Officers investigated the incident overnight, and detectives returned to the scene later Monday morning to conduct further analysis.

9-1-1 call

Police received a 9-1-1 call concerning a female screaming for help around 11:10 p.m. Sunday, but a police spokesperson on Monday could not confirm whether the call was placed by the victim or a bystander who had heard the screams.

Residents who live on the 900 block of South Broad Street did not seem to know anything about the incident or the homicide victim Monday morning.

Jose has lived in the neighborhood since 2015 and said, “Everything is good,” adding, “I don’t know what happened yesterday.” He called the incident “crazy.”

Another neighborhood resident who was home at the time of the slaying said, “I didn’t hear anything,” adding, “I sleep like a log.”

The resident saw police conducting their crime scene investigation Monday morning but did not know what they were investigating, exactly. “They don’t tell you anything,” he said of the crime-scene detectives.

Detectives on Memorial Day 2017 investigate in the alleyway where a woman was stabbed to death overnight on the 900 block of South Broad Street in Trenton. (SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN - The Trentonian)

By 10 a.m. Monday, the 900 block of South Broad Street bustled with business as usual, as if a homicide had not occurred. Patrons at a local barbershop were getting their hair cut; customers at R&R Laundromat were washing loads of clothing.

State worker

Before becoming the city’s latest homicide victim, Brenda Garzio used to work as a secretary for the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission, according to her LinkedIn page.

After clocking in 25 years and 11 months of service, Garzio took an early retirement from her JJC central office job in August 2011 at age 43, according to state records. Her annual salary was $56,830.39, and in retirement she was collecting a $1,428.22 monthly pension allowance, records show.

Trenton Police and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday had few details to release about the stabbing death. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

Trentonian staff writers Penny Ray and David Foster contributed to this report.

Dante Alexander

William Mitchell received delayed justice on Wednesday when a jury found him not guilty of murder while Dante Alexander was brought to justice on Wednesday as jurors unanimously convicted him of shooting and killing a Trenton man.

Mitchell, 29, of Trenton, smiled and held his head up high after a jury acquitted him on all charges.

William "Bill Bill" Mitchell

“Yes, you coming home!” one of Mitchell’s loved ones said in the courtroom after 12 jurors unanimously cleared him of murder charges and weapons offenses.

“Free that innocent man!” another loved one shouted.

Indeed, Mitchell was slated to be released after Wednesday’s verdict. He was incarcerated on a high bail at the Mercer County Correction Center on allegations that accused him of shooting and killing 23-year-old Daquan Dowling during a Route 29 drive-by shooting in Trenton on Jan. 30, 2012.

The state initially tried Mitchell on murder charges last fall in a trial that ended in a hung jury. Seven months later, another jury of Mitchell’s peers exonerated him as the state failed to meet its burden of proof.

Defense attorney Mark Fury, who represented Mitchell in the murder retrial, said the state failed to win a conviction because “the facts just weren’t there” to support the charges. “I’m happy to do this job, and I take my job very seriously,” Fury told Trenton Homicide Watch after Wednesday’s verdict. “But just like in boxing where ‘styles make fights,’ in cases ‘facts make trials.’”

Fury pointed out the fact that Mitchell is the second defendant to be found not guilty of all charges in connection with Dowling’s violent death. A co-defendant in the case, 25-year-old Andre Romero, was found not guilty last October of all charges.

“Obviously we have to respect the jury’s verdict,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott told Trenton Homicide Watch on Wednesday.  He said he disagrees with the jury’s verdict but reiterated that “you have to respect the jury’s verdict under the circumstances.”

Dowling was driving a white Ford Taurus on Route 29 northbound near the War Memorial in Trenton when perpetrators drove alongside him and fired a shot that struck him in the head, killing him instantly on Jan. 30, 2012. The crime scene was so large that police had to take aerial photos from a helicopter.

But the evidence that prosecutors presented at trial did not leave a jury firmly convinced that Mitchell was responsible for Dowling’s death. A New Jersey State Police trooper who testified in the retrial conceded that Mitchell’s fingerprints were not found anywhere inside the stolen vehicle that was used in the drive-by shooting.

No one has been convicted of killing Dowling, but co-defendant Anthony Marks, 28, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a handgun in 2015; co-defendant Jamar Square, 24, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a handgun in 2013; and co-defendant Louis Alvardo, 26, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in 2014.

Chambersburg slaying

Trenton gunman Dante Alexander, 33, on Wednesday was convicted of shooting and killing 26-year-old Brandon Nance outside a city bakery in 2013. The jury was firmly convinced he murdered Nance in broad daylight on Aug. 29, 2013, in front of the Italian People’s Bakery on Butler Street.

The jury found Alexander guilty of murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose but found him not guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon. The conviction on the murder charge alone puts Alexander on track to receive a sentence ranging from 30 years to life in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

“While we are disappointed in the verdict,” Alexander’s defense attorney Christopher T. Campbell said, “we are confident on appeal the court will reverse, because we were improperly denied a pretrial hearing to determine whether the jury should have seen the evidence that it did.”

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward presented the jury with powerful evidence in Alexander’s murder trial, but Campbell says some of that evidence probably would not have been allowed in the trial if the court had previously conducting an evidentiary hearing pertaining to certain evidence that Campbell wanted to suppress.

Campbell after Wednesday’s verdict vowed to file a timely motion demanding a new trial for his client and said he will be prepared to appeal Alexander’s convictions to a higher court if the new trial is not granted.

The teenager accused of murdering Hamilton woman Brenda Garzio says he acted in self-defense when he stabbed the 48-year-old victim to death following a consensual sex act they had over Memorial Day weekend in Trenton, according to a statement he gave to police.

Jose C. Garcia, 18, of Hamilton, told police he is the killer responsible for Garzio’s death but framed the May 28 slaying as a justifiable homicide.

“I do believe that there is a self-defense claim here,” Garcia’s lawyer Malaeika Montgomery said in court on Tuesday, adding the violent encounter between her client and the victim began as a sexual romp between two consenting adults.

“After the conclusion of that sex act, the alleged victim in this incident pulled a knife on Mr. Garcia,” Montgomery said. “The alleged victim then attempted to obtain more money from Mr. Garcia for the services that had been provided. Mr. Garcia truly feared for his life and reacted in that particular moment in that situation.”

Detective Michael Castaldo of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office arrested Garcia last Thursday on murder charges and weapons offenses after reviewing surveillance footage that depicted Garcia fleeing the area where the homicide occurred on the 900 block of South Broad Street — a troubled area that is well-known to police for quality-of-life issues that include prostitution.

Garcia fully cooperated with police when he gave the statement identifying himself as the killer, according to Montgomery and court documents. The victim on the night of the slaying was screaming for help and screaming for police and suffered multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors last Friday filed a motion seeking to keep Garcia locked up without bail while his murder case plays out in court. At Garcia’s detention hearing on Tuesday, Montgomery tried to persuade Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw to release her client from jail on electronically monitored home detention.

“This is not a situation of an individual hunting someone down or simply getting involved in a situation because they are in a gang,” Montgomery said. “This was an unfortunate incident that occurred as a result of Mr. Garcia’s interaction with this victim in this particular situation.”

Garcia, who turns 19 next month, “was brought to headquarters, and he gave a statement, and he acknowledged having stabbed the victim, so the identity is not an issue here,” Warshaw said Tuesday after reviewing the affidavit of probable cause.

Warshaw asked the state on what grounds was it filing the pretrial detention motion against Garcia.

“Your honor, this case has a presumption of detention. It’s a murder case, so that’s the grounds,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle said. “The state has also listed a danger to the community.”

Boyle also told Warshaw not to consider Garcia’s self-defense argument.

“The defendant may argue self-defense,” Boyle said. “At this point we don’t think that’s a decision for the court. That’s something that the defense has to try to establish in front of a jury in light of the facts here.”

“This is charged as a murder,” Boyle added. “It is a very serious offense. There is a presumption to overcome in this case, and I don’t think simply the assertion of self-defense gets us there.”

Prior to his arrest, Garcia lived with his uncle on Marshall Avenue in Hamilton and did work with his stepfather’s demolition company from time to time, according to statements made in court.

Garcia’s Public Safety Assessment or PSA score recommended he not be released from jail pretrial, although the PSA score graded him as a low-risk defendant. The PSA scale said he had the lowest potential risk of failing to appear in court — scoring him 1 out of 6. The scale also graded him 2 out of 6 on potential risk of committing new criminal activity and suggested he was not at risk for committing new criminal acts of violence.

Garcia did not have any prior contacts with the criminal justice system as an adult but did have an adjudication for a firearms offense from when he was a juvenile, according to additional statements read in court.

Brenda Garzio

“The court has received additional information that subsequent to a consensual sex act of some kind, the argument is that the victim pulled a knife on the defendant and tried to get money from the defendant,” Warshaw said. “The defendant was fearful for his life and he ended up stabbing the victim. I don’t know whether there was one knife, more than one knife, whether the defendant takes a position that he had to disarm the victim, I don’t know any of those things right now, but I do understand and consider the arguments made by defense counsel, particularly that this is something which was between two people if you will, personal if you will, as opposed to something where the court would have a generalized threat to the community, which the court could reasonably perceive.”

But in the end, Warshaw signed the order placing Garcia on pretrial detention.

“The fact is I am satisfied that the presumption (of detention) is appropriately applied to this case,” he said, adding that “the presumption has not been satisfactorily rebutted by proofs.”

In other words, Garcia and his lawyer did not make a compelling enough argument to justify his release from jail while his murder case plays out in court. He could remain incarcerated without bail for up to two years but has a right to appeal his detention order.

Garzio was Trenton’s eighth homicide victim of 2017. She worked as a secretary for the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission, up until she took an early retirement after clocking in 25 years and 11 months of public service.

In his defense, Garcia alleges that Garzio had attempted to extort money from him at knifepoint following a consensual sex act, prompting him to kill her about 11:10 p.m. May 28 on the 900 block of South Broad Street in Trenton.

Police in recent years have conducted several undercover stings that resulted in numerous alleged prostitutes getting arrested around the area where Garzio was stabbed to death.

Sgt. Jason Astbury received awards for valor and merit during a May 2010 police ceremony but was shaken eight months later when he discovered the murdered body of Dardar Paye stuffed inside the trunk of a Buick sedan.

Trenton Police Sgt. Jason Astbury

“I was startled,” Astbury said Thursday during witness testimony. “I’ve never come across anything like that in my career.”

Astbury found the body in the trunk on Jan. 16, 2011, following an interstate police chase that began in Trenton and ended on Route 1 in Falls Township, Pennsylvania.

Paye, 33, was a U.S. Army veteran and Liberian immigrant who had been shot and killed in the basement of a Monmouth Street home in Trenton before getting placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the Buick’s trunk. Astbury said he had checked the body for a pulse, to no avail.

Mack Edwards, one of the five defendants charged with the murder of Paye, was riding as a passenger in the Buick. When the vehicle slowed down to a near-full stop, Edwards opened the front passenger’s door and tried to exit from it, according to Astbury, who had placed Edwards in a front headlock in an effort to subdue him outside the moving vehicle.

Mack Edwards

“I had to punch him,” Astbury said on Thursday, adding he struck Edwards on the top of the head during a tussle. He was “on the ground struggling with the passenger” while another officer apparently reached inside the vehicle to put the Buick in park, he said.

Edwards, 31, of Trenton, was quickly placed in handcuffs. “They put a bandage on his head and he was placed in a police vehicle,” Astbury added.

Edwards is currently standing trial on murder charges alongside co-defendant and alleged triggerman Danuweli Keller, 29, of Hamilton.

The other co-defendants in the case — Trenton men Phobus Sullivan, 33, Abdutawab Kiazolu, 29, and William D. Brown, 32 — are expected to be tried later in the future. Sullivan is accused of driving the Buick in an attempt to dispose of Paye’s body.

The Trentonian previously reported that Astbury pursued the Buick because it had matched the description of a vehicle that was spotted during recent home invasion robberies in Trenton. When Astbury took notice of the Buick, police said, it was traveling with two other vehicles — a white minivan and a silver Mitsubishi — and they were all driving at a high rate of speed in the area of Anderson Street and Hamilton Avenue in the city’s Chambersburg section.

All three autos headed for the bridge on Route 1 South into Pennsylvania. The first car, the Mitsubishi, stopped to pay the toll at the bridge, but the other two vehicles drove through the toll plaza without paying, according to news accounts in The Trentonian, which cited police sources.

Astbury and Detective Charles Steever Jr. gave chase, police said, with the Buick stopping on Route 1 near the Oxford Valley exit in Bucks County’s Falls Township.

Danuweli Keller

Police say Sullivan and Edwards exited the Buick and tried to flee on foot. Detective Eliezer Ramos caught up to Sullivan, while Astbury apprehended Edwards.

Pennsylvania State Police spotted the fleeing white minivan heading south on Interstate 95 at a high rate of speed. Police said Keller was driving the minivan and that Kiazolu was riding as a passenger inside that vehicle. Troopers brought the vehicle to a stop in Philadelphia by using spike strips to take out the vehicle’s tires and arrested Keller and Kiazolu, police said at the time.

Brown was later charged in connection with the murder after the arrests of Edwards, Keller, Sullivan and Kiazolu.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier is presiding over the Keller and Edwards murder trial, with defense attorney Peter Abatemarco representing Keller and defense attorney Mark G. Davis representing Edwards.

Dardar Paye

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian is prosecuting Edwards and Keller on behalf of the state.

An audio recording of police radio chatter was played in the courtroom on Thursday. “There’s a body in the trunk we have,” Astbury said in the recording.

Astbury has been on the Trenton Police force since April 2000. He received service commendations for valor and merit in May 2010 and was named 2011 Trenton Police Officer of the Year several months after the body-in-the-trunk discovery.

TRENTON >> Mercer County and Trenton Police say that Lewis Young, 30, of Trenton, was murdered while driving in the city Thursday evening.

Young was pronounced dead at Capital Health System-Fuld after a passenger in his vehicle drove him to the hospital. The shooting occured around 8:30 p.m., Young was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.

County Homicide Task Force and city police are investigating, but no arrests have yet been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Jonathan Weathers

A Mercer County grand jury issued two murder indictments last week.

Jonathan Weathers, 26, was indicted on charges of murder, robbery and tampering with a witness in connection with the death of 60-year-old Stephen Merrill.

Weathers is accused of severely beating Merrill during a robbery on August 2, 2016. Merrill was found suffering from a brain bleed, a collapsed lung and multiple broken bones on Lamberton Street around 3 a.m.

Officials say Weathers took Merrill’s wallet, cellphone and Fitbit during the assault.

Merrill died at the hospital a few weeks later.

While Weathers was in jail, prosecutors say, he contacted a witness in the case and told them to recant their statement regarding the robbery and not go to court. For that, Weathers was charged with tampering with a witness.

Weathers remains in jail on $1 million bail.

A grand jury also indicted 16-year-old Danny Saad for the death of Carlos Leiva-Oviedo, who was fatally stabbed near the intersection of Hudson and Genesee streets on the morning of June 14, 2016.

Surveillance video helped police identify Saad, from Newark, as a suspect in the case. Saad was charged with murder and related weapons offenses, and was waived to adult court.

Saad remains in the Middlesex County Youth Detention Center.

Police investigate a murder in the 100 block of Miller Street. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A man was shot and killed while sitting in a car directly across the street from the hospital Wednesday night, marking the second murder this month in the capital city.

The incident happened around 9:35 p.m. in the 100 block of Miller Street, a section of the city that doesn't experience much violence, located directly across the street from Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

"We don't see too much criminal activity in this area," a cop at the scene said Wednesday night. "It's kinda surprising."

Adding mystery to the surprise, the car was still idling and partially parked on the sidewalk parallel to a fence, leading detectives to believe the man was driving the car at the time he was shot. Cops presume the man placed the car in park after it jumped the curb, and at this time it doesn't appear the vehicle struck any obstacles before it stopped.

Police say the man was shot numerous times, including once in the head. They don’t believe anyone else was in the car with him at the time of the shooting.

While some investigators canvassed the scene for additional evidence, detectives spent most of their time focused on the dark-colored Acura the victim was driving. The vehicle had New York license plates, and police believe the man may not be a local resident.

As of midnight, police had not yet searched the vehicle for additional clues that may provide a motive for the killing. Witnesses at the scene said they didn't see what happened prior to the gunshots.

So far this year, the city has experienced 10 homicides, which includes the hit-and-run death of Lea Pringle.

Seven people have died by gunfire this year, and two people were stabbed to death.

Anyone with information about Wednesday's killing is urged to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

A man was murdered while in his car across the street from the hospital Wednesday night (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Danuweli Keller (left) and Mack Edwards

A 12-member jury has unanimously found Danuweli Keller guilty of a 2011 city murder that left the victim’s body stuffed in the trunk of a car.

Meanwhile, the jury on Thursday could not reach any verdicts against co-defendant Mack Edwards, 31, of Trenton, with the jury deliberating for hours over Edwards’ fate but being hung on all 17 counts at the trial’s conclusion.

Prosecutors say they have a strong case against Edwards and will try him again in hopes of securing a conviction at a future trial. The partial verdict is not exactly what the state was looking for, but the prosecution expressed satisfaction with the jury convicting Keller on the murder charges.

“We’re happy in the sense that Danuweli Keller was found guilty for the execution of Dardar Paye,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian told The Trentonian after the verdict. “We’re glad he will finally be held accountable for the crime.”

Keller, 29, of Hamilton, shot and killed Paye in the basement of a Monmouth Street home in Trenton in January 2011. Paye, 33, was a U.S. Army veteran and Liberian immigrant. After Keller murdered him, Paye’s body was placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of Buick.

Dardar Paye

Trenton Police Sgt. Jason Astbury found the body in the trunk on Jan. 16, 2011, following an interstate police chase that began in Trenton and ended on Route 1 in Falls Township, Pennsylvania.

A total of five defendants have been charged with the murder of Paye, including Keller and Edwards. The other co-defendants in the case are Trenton men Phobus Sullivan, 33, Abdutawab Kiazolu, 29, and William D. Brown, 32, and they are all expected to be tried in the near future.

The jury on Thursday was hung on some of the charges against Keller but was firmly convinced of Keller’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on the first-degree murder and armed robbery charges. Consequently, Keller faces 30 years to life in prison.

Gasparian said the state will recommend Keller gets hammered with life imprisonment when he is sentenced on Sept. 7.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier presided over the Keller and Edwards murder trial, with defense attorney Peter Abatemarco representing Keller and defense attorney Mark G. Davis representing Edwards.

“The jury took their time,” Davis told The Trentonian after the mixed verdict came down. “I think they did a good job reviewing the evidence and coming up with a verdict.”

With the jury convicting Keller on the heaviest charges but being hung on all 17 counts against Edwards, Davis said he expects the state will retry his client.

For a defendant to be found guilty of a criminal charge in a trial by jury, all jurors must unanimously agree that the state has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. For a defendant to be found not guilty, all jurors must unanimously agree that the state failed to prove its case in a convincing manner. A hung jury occurs when the jurors deliberate for hours but fail to reach a unanimous agreement over a defendant’s fate.

A murder victim lies in the street on Sanford St in Trenton Friday as police process the scene.
John Berry - The Trentonian

TRENTON >> With the start of the summer, city kids were riding their bikes and hanging out of front porches to kick off the Fourth of July weekend.

But on the first block of Sanford Street on Friday afternoon, a man lay dead in the street after being gunned down.

Police sources say the victim is 19-year-old city resident Nebate Anderson.

Employees at a car business at the end of the street said they were in the garage when the shooting occurred so they didn’t see anything. But the workers said they heard at least five shots.

“Thank God the kids weren’t playing on their bikes,” one woman said who had been living on the street the past 16 years. “They don’t care about daytime, the children, nothing.”

The shooting occurred just before 3 p.m.

When cops arrived on the scene, Anderson was found laying on the ground between a car and a minivan, police sources said. Anderson lived across the street from where he was shot, the sources told The Trentonian.

The sources who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution said Anderson had a warrant for his arrest for a prior shooting. Police sources said Anderson “always had a gun on him” and was a “known shooter.”

Half of Sanford Street is lined with vacant, boarded-up houses that are used as memorials for people who have been killed with “RIP” inscriptions written with spray paint.

Some young children were sitting on porches with their parents at the border of the crime-scene tape.

“Damn, summertime,” one man said. “Oh man, that s**t is crazy, crazy in the hood.”

Anderson was arrested by Trenton police on May 2 because he matched the description of a suspected gunman in connection with two shootings.

Anderson allegedly reached for his waistband when he saw the cops.

Detectives grabbed Anderson’s hand, which was on the gun, and disarmed him as they tackled him onto the ground.

Police say the semi-automatic weapon was fully loaded and equipped with a high-capacity magazine. Detectives also found Anderson in possession of marijuana.

Anderson was charged with drug and weapons offenses for the incident.

Friday’s murder was the second homicide in the past three days.

On Wednesday night, Daren Joseph, 29, of Lauderhill, Fla., was found lying in the street next to a dark-colored Acura on the 100 block of Miller Street, a section of the city that doesn’t experience much violence, located directly across the street from Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

So far this year, the city has experienced 11 homicides, which includes the hit-and-run death of Lea Pringle.

Eight people have died by gunfire this year, two people were stabbed to death, and the one vehicle death.

Anyone with information about Wednesday’s killing is urged to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

Trentonian staff writer Penny Ray contributed to this report

Police and County Homicide detectives on the scene of a murder on Sanford St. in Trenton.
John Berry - The Trentonian

Dante Alexander

William Mitchell received delayed justice on Wednesday when a jury found him not guilty of murder while Dante Alexander was brought to justice on Wednesday as jurors unanimously convicted him of shooting and killing a Trenton man.

Mitchell, 29, of Trenton, smiled and held his head up high after a jury acquitted him on all charges.

William "Bill Bill" Mitchell

“Yes, you coming home!” one of Mitchell’s loved ones said in the courtroom after 12 jurors unanimously cleared him of murder charges and weapons offenses.

“Free that innocent man!” another loved one shouted.

Indeed, Mitchell was slated to be released after Wednesday’s verdict. He was incarcerated on a high bail at the Mercer County Correction Center on allegations that accused him of shooting and killing 23-year-old Daquan Dowling during a Route 29 drive-by shooting in Trenton on Jan. 30, 2012.

The state initially tried Mitchell on murder charges last fall in a trial that ended in a hung jury. Seven months later, another jury of Mitchell’s peers exonerated him as the state failed to meet its burden of proof.

Defense attorney Mark Fury, who represented Mitchell in the murder retrial, said the state failed to win a conviction because “the facts just weren’t there” to support the charges. “I’m happy to do this job, and I take my job very seriously,” Fury told Trenton Homicide Watch after Wednesday’s verdict. “But just like in boxing where ‘styles make fights,’ in cases ‘facts make trials.’”

Fury pointed out the fact that Mitchell is the second defendant to be found not guilty of all charges in connection with Dowling’s violent death. A co-defendant in the case, 25-year-old Andre Romero, was found not guilty last October of all charges.

“Obviously we have to respect the jury’s verdict,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott told Trenton Homicide Watch on Wednesday.  He said he disagrees with the jury’s verdict but reiterated that “you have to respect the jury’s verdict under the circumstances.”

Dowling was driving a white Ford Taurus on Route 29 northbound near the War Memorial in Trenton when perpetrators drove alongside him and fired a shot that struck him in the head, killing him instantly on Jan. 30, 2012. The crime scene was so large that police had to take aerial photos from a helicopter.

But the evidence that prosecutors presented at trial did not leave a jury firmly convinced that Mitchell was responsible for Dowling’s death. A New Jersey State Police trooper who testified in the retrial conceded that Mitchell’s fingerprints were not found anywhere inside the stolen vehicle that was used in the drive-by shooting.

No one has been convicted of killing Dowling, but co-defendant Anthony Marks, 28, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a handgun in 2015; co-defendant Jamar Square, 24, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a handgun in 2013; and co-defendant Louis Alvardo, 26, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in 2014.

Chambersburg slaying

Trenton gunman Dante Alexander, 33, on Wednesday was convicted of shooting and killing 26-year-old Brandon Nance outside a city bakery in 2013. The jury was firmly convinced he murdered Nance in broad daylight on Aug. 29, 2013, in front of the Italian People’s Bakery on Butler Street.

The jury found Alexander guilty of murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose but found him not guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon. The conviction on the murder charge alone puts Alexander on track to receive a sentence ranging from 30 years to life in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

“While we are disappointed in the verdict,” Alexander’s defense attorney Christopher T. Campbell said, “we are confident on appeal the court will reverse, because we were improperly denied a pretrial hearing to determine whether the jury should have seen the evidence that it did.”

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward presented the jury with powerful evidence in Alexander’s murder trial, but Campbell says some of that evidence probably would not have been allowed in the trial if the court had previously conducting an evidentiary hearing pertaining to certain evidence that Campbell wanted to suppress.

Campbell after Wednesday’s verdict vowed to file a timely motion demanding a new trial for his client and said he will be prepared to appeal Alexander’s convictions to a higher court if the new trial is not granted.

Randy Kareem Washington

Violent gunman Randy K. Washington was not physically present in the courtroom Thursday morning when a jury announced it had found him guilty of first-degree murder and weapons offenses.

Now a convicted killer who faces 30 years to life in prison, Washington last week showed his wild side when he allegedly attacked his public defender during his murder trial. Seven days later, the jury handed down the guilty verdicts.

Indeed, the compelling evidence in the case left all 12 jurors firmly convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Washington is the triggerman who shot and killed 64-year-old Silas Johnson in Trenton near the intersection of Market Street and the Route 1 overpass on the morning of Oct. 29, 2014.

“I am grateful that the jury took the time they needed to evaluate the evidence and come to the conclusion they did,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds told The Trentonian on Thursday.

Washington, 36, of Trenton, was arrested in court last Thursday on allegations he attacked his public defender Jessica Lyons shortly after the jury dismissed for deliberations. The defense attorney suffered multiple facial lacerations around her eye and was taken by ambulance to Capital Health Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office.

Like Washington, Lyons also did not physically appear in the courtroom on Thursday. Instead, state public defender Nicole Carlo represented Washington as his stand-in attorney.

Prior to the jury’s verdict, Washington was being held at the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million cash bail. “That bail is revoked now that he has been convicted and there is a presumption of incarceration,” Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta said on Thursday.

Pereksta thanked the jurors for their service and thanked Carlo for standing in as Washington’s attorney.

The jury found Washington guilty of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a handgun, resisting arrest by flight, and obstructing the administration of law, while finding him not guilty of resisting arrest by force.

Geurds and Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Laura Sunyak worked together in tandem to prosecute Washington for the murder of Silas Johnson.

In addition to murdering Johnson, the state also accuses Washington of murdering George Jamison, 43, who was shot and killed July 30, 2014, while sitting on a bus stop bench in Trenton. Prosecutors further allege that Washington committed five separate robberies in the capital city between July 2014 and October 2014.

The teenager accused of murdering Hamilton woman Brenda Garzio says he acted in self-defense when he stabbed the 48-year-old victim to death following a consensual sex act they had over Memorial Day weekend in Trenton, according to a statement he gave to police.

Jose C. Garcia, 18, of Hamilton, told police he is the killer responsible for Garzio’s death but framed the May 28 slaying as a justifiable homicide.

“I do believe that there is a self-defense claim here,” Garcia’s lawyer Malaeika Montgomery said in court on Tuesday, adding the violent encounter between her client and the victim began as a sexual romp between two consenting adults.

“After the conclusion of that sex act, the alleged victim in this incident pulled a knife on Mr. Garcia,” Montgomery said. “The alleged victim then attempted to obtain more money from Mr. Garcia for the services that had been provided. Mr. Garcia truly feared for his life and reacted in that particular moment in that situation.”

Detective Michael Castaldo of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office arrested Garcia last Thursday on murder charges and weapons offenses after reviewing surveillance footage that depicted Garcia fleeing the area where the homicide occurred on the 900 block of South Broad Street — a troubled area that is well-known to police for quality-of-life issues that include prostitution.

Garcia fully cooperated with police when he gave the statement identifying himself as the killer, according to Montgomery and court documents. The victim on the night of the slaying was screaming for help and screaming for police and suffered multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors last Friday filed a motion seeking to keep Garcia locked up without bail while his murder case plays out in court. At Garcia’s detention hearing on Tuesday, Montgomery tried to persuade Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw to release her client from jail on electronically monitored home detention.

“This is not a situation of an individual hunting someone down or simply getting involved in a situation because they are in a gang,” Montgomery said. “This was an unfortunate incident that occurred as a result of Mr. Garcia’s interaction with this victim in this particular situation.”

Garcia, who turns 19 next month, “was brought to headquarters, and he gave a statement, and he acknowledged having stabbed the victim, so the identity is not an issue here,” Warshaw said Tuesday after reviewing the affidavit of probable cause.

Warshaw asked the state on what grounds was it filing the pretrial detention motion against Garcia.

“Your honor, this case has a presumption of detention. It’s a murder case, so that’s the grounds,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle said. “The state has also listed a danger to the community.”

Boyle also told Warshaw not to consider Garcia’s self-defense argument.

“The defendant may argue self-defense,” Boyle said. “At this point we don’t think that’s a decision for the court. That’s something that the defense has to try to establish in front of a jury in light of the facts here.”

“This is charged as a murder,” Boyle added. “It is a very serious offense. There is a presumption to overcome in this case, and I don’t think simply the assertion of self-defense gets us there.”

Prior to his arrest, Garcia lived with his uncle on Marshall Avenue in Hamilton and did work with his stepfather’s demolition company from time to time, according to statements made in court.

Garcia’s Public Safety Assessment or PSA score recommended he not be released from jail pretrial, although the PSA score graded him as a low-risk defendant. The PSA scale said he had the lowest potential risk of failing to appear in court — scoring him 1 out of 6. The scale also graded him 2 out of 6 on potential risk of committing new criminal activity and suggested he was not at risk for committing new criminal acts of violence.

Garcia did not have any prior contacts with the criminal justice system as an adult but did have an adjudication for a firearms offense from when he was a juvenile, according to additional statements read in court.

Brenda Garzio

“The court has received additional information that subsequent to a consensual sex act of some kind, the argument is that the victim pulled a knife on the defendant and tried to get money from the defendant,” Warshaw said. “The defendant was fearful for his life and he ended up stabbing the victim. I don’t know whether there was one knife, more than one knife, whether the defendant takes a position that he had to disarm the victim, I don’t know any of those things right now, but I do understand and consider the arguments made by defense counsel, particularly that this is something which was between two people if you will, personal if you will, as opposed to something where the court would have a generalized threat to the community, which the court could reasonably perceive.”

But in the end, Warshaw signed the order placing Garcia on pretrial detention.

“The fact is I am satisfied that the presumption (of detention) is appropriately applied to this case,” he said, adding that “the presumption has not been satisfactorily rebutted by proofs.”

In other words, Garcia and his lawyer did not make a compelling enough argument to justify his release from jail while his murder case plays out in court. He could remain incarcerated without bail for up to two years but has a right to appeal his detention order.

Garzio was Trenton’s eighth homicide victim of 2017. She worked as a secretary for the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission, up until she took an early retirement after clocking in 25 years and 11 months of public service.

In his defense, Garcia alleges that Garzio had attempted to extort money from him at knifepoint following a consensual sex act, prompting him to kill her about 11:10 p.m. May 28 on the 900 block of South Broad Street in Trenton.

Police in recent years have conducted several undercover stings that resulted in numerous alleged prostitutes getting arrested around the area where Garzio was stabbed to death.

Briann Lindsey

Prosecutors say Briann Lindsey stabbed her boyfriend to death earlier this year in Trenton’s West Ward, but two 9-1-1 calls paint a different picture of what happened that afternoon.

“My boyfriend, he’s bleeding,” Lindsey said about 4:10 p.m. March 6, according to the 9-1-1 recordings obtained by The Trentonian.

“What happened to him?” the Mercer County dispatcher asks.

“I don’t know,” Lindsey responds coolly as if the incident had no alleged connection to domestic violence.

“Is he awake?” the dispatcher asks.

“Yes,” Lindsey said while her romantic lover, 35-year-old Christopher Johnson, was dying on the floor of their shared Brookville Commons apartment off Clearfield Avenue.

“What’s wrong with him?” the dispatcher asks.

“I don’t know,” Lindsey bluntly responded as if she had no idea why her boyfriend was barely clinging to life.

Christopher Johnson (submitted photo)

“Ma’am, why does he need an ambulance? … Ma’am, what’s going on there that you need help?”

Instead of answering the question, Lindsey, 25, began crying excessively in that point of the 9-1-1 call.

“Ma’am, I need to try to get a little more information about what’s going on,” the dispatcher says.

After a few moments of silence, Lindsey says, “Please, just come. Please.”

Lindsey eventually hands the phone over to an unidentified man. He, in turn, tells the dispatcher that the victim “came in the house bleeding.”

“OK. Do you know what happened?” the dispatcher asks the man.

“No, I don’t,” the man responds.

Johnson is said to be “awake” at that point in the 9-1-1 call, but the dispatcher probes for additional information about the victim’s condition, asking: “Is he acting normally? Is he able to tell you what happened or no?”

“Umm, just send an ambulance, I guess,” the unidentified man responds.

“I already have an ambulance on the way. I just want to see if there is anything I can do before they get there,” the dispatcher says.

“No, it’s really nothing much,” the man says. “Just send them.”

Around 4:17 p.m., the phone is passed back to Lindsey. She tells the dispatcher that Johnson cannot breathe.

“OK. I have an ambulance on the way already,” the dispatcher tells Lindsey. “They are already on their way. I just need to try to get some more information about what’s going on.”

“Please hurry up,” Lindsey responds. “You can get information in a minute. Please hurry up.”

“Ma’am, if you calm down and you listen to me, I can help you before they get there,” the dispatcher says. “If you keep screaming, I cannot.”

Lindsey says a few more words in a hysterical tone, which prompts the dispatcher to further inquire about what happened over there, exactly, at Brookville Commons.

“Was he assaulted? Was he stabbed? Was he shot? Did he fall off of his bike?” the dispatcher asks.

“I think he was stabbed,” Lindsey responded as if she was not 100 percent sure what injuries her boyfriend suffered. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

At 4:18 p.m., Mercer County dispatch received a second 9-1-1 call from another woman who reported Lindsey’s boyfriend was suffering from an apparent stab wound to the chest. The unidentified woman further stated that Lindsey would perform CPR on the victim.

The dispatcher gave full instructions on how to perform CPR and asked the second 9-1-1 caller whether Johnson’s girlfriend was performing the emergency procedure. The caller confirmed that Lindsey was in fact performing CPR on her dying boyfriend.

“OK. I need her to continue to do that until the ambulance gets there. OK,” the dispatcher says. “Keep doing it until the ambulance comes, and tell her, ‘Do not stop.’ … Tell her do not stop the compressions until they get there.”

Medics arrived at the apartment about 4:22 p.m. March 6, and Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene shortly thereafter.

Lindsey tried to clean up the crime scene prior to police arrival, prosecutors allege. Mercer County Homicide Task Force Detective Jessica Senese of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office arrested Lindsey on March 7 on allegations she murdered Johnson.

State public defender Nicole Carlo, who represented Lindsey in March, said her client had a history of mental health issues and noted Lindsey was placed on suicide watch at the county jail. A judge eventually ordered Lindsey to pretrial detention and a Mercer County grand jury in May indicted her on the following three counts: First-degree murder, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

Lindsey is scheduled for a post-indictment arraignment 9 a.m. July 24 before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw.

Kyler Bragg (Facebook photo)

The teen who was shot in the head during a shootout Tuesday night was pronounced dead at the hospital Thursday morning.

Kyler Bragg, 15, was one of four teens shot around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday during a shootout near the intersection of Division and Hewitt streets.

Investigators believe some of the teens in the group were targeted as retaliation for terrorizing the neighborhood through robberies.

"People were afraid to come out of their homes because of the robberies," a source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

In addition to Bragg, who was shot in the head and leg, a 16-year-old male suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, a 16-year-old female was struck in the shoulder and back, and a 16-year-old male was shot in the thigh.

More than a dozen shell casings littered the crime scene, which spanned a few blocks. Police believe at least one teen returned fire after the initial suspect or suspects fired at the group.

As of press time Thursday, no arrests have been made as investigators try to narrow down the suspect list.

"They have a lot of enemies because they were robbing people," a source said.

Bragg is the first murder victim under the age of 18 to die in the capital city this year. Dating back to 2013, at least one person under the age of 18 has been killed in Trenton each year.

Last year, three juveniles were gunned down in the street.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the shooting and no arrests have been made at this time. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

Police investigate a shooting in Trenton that injured four teens, including a 15-year-old male who was shot in the head. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Jamar Myers (N.J. Department of Corrections Photo)

The gunman who shot and killed a beloved Trenton pharmacist in April 2011 is now serving hard time in the state prison system.

Jamar Myers, 31, of Lalor Street in Hamilton Township, is doing 30 years behind bars for murdering Brunswick Pharmacy owner Sri Arjun Reddy Dyapa, 54, during the commission of a robbery.

The incident occurred April 29, 2011, when Myers walked into the pharmacy demanding drugs and shot Dyapa once in the chest when the victim refused to comply.

Myers fled from the murder scene and allegedly committed a robbery in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, one week later on May 6, 2011. Myers then robbed a 7-Eleven convenience store in Hamilton on May 7, 2011, and was quickly arrested by Hamilton Police Officer Mark Horan.

Myers sat at the Mercer County Correction Center for over six years while his murder case played out in court. He pleaded guilty last November to first-degree murder and a judge earlier this month sentenced him to state prison.

Authorities discharged the self-confessed killer from the county jail on Monday and transferred him to the Central Reception and Assignment Facility in Ewing, records show. The institution is better known as CRAF and will ultimately assign Myers to one of the nine correctional facilities for men operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

Myers will be 55 years old when released from the big house, because his parole eligibility coincides with a maximum release date of May 5, 2041. He got credit for serving 2,253 days at the county jail prior to his prison sentence.

Sri Arjun Reddy Dyapa

With the state of New Jersey having compelling evidence against him and Myers seeing the writing on the wall, he pleaded guilty to the Hamilton robbery and Trenton murder charges on Nov. 29, 2016. Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier on July 7 sentenced Myers to concurrent terms of 30 years for the murder and 12 years for the Hamilton robbery.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania authorities still have pending charges against Myers. The killer was scheduled to stand trial earlier this month in Bucks County Common Pleas Court for his Falls Township robbery case, but the trial was effectively postponed due to Myers being unavailable.

The murder victim Arjun Dyapa was survived by a wife and daughter. He was a Hamilton resident and had operated the Brunswick Pharmacy for more than a decade.

Police investigate a murder in the 800 block of East State Street Sunday night. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A man was shot and killed Sunday night, marking the second capital city homicide in less than a week.

Officials say 26-year-old Tisheen Rasheen Mack was found lying on the sidewalk in the 800 block of East State Street suffering from numerous gunshot wounds.

Cops who were patrolling the area heard the gunfire. Witnesses at the scene said they heard eight shots.

At least one vehicle in the area was also struck by gunfire.

Police sources say Mack also had a gun on him, which was found while medical personnel stabilized him at the scene. Mack was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

So far this year, 13 people have been killed in Trenton, which includes the hit-and-run death of 39-year-old Lea Pringle.

Last week, 15-year-old Kyler Bragg was murdered during a shootout near the intersection of Division and Hewitt streets.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the shooting and no arrests have been made at this time. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

Police investigate the capital city's second homicide in less than a week. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Tisheen Rasheen Mack (pictured) was murdered in Trenton Sunday night (Facebook photo)

Hours after a man was murdered Sunday night, marking the second capital city homicide in less than a week, the mayor called upon parents to take a more active role in their children’s lives, and for lawmakers to revisit the state’s bail reform legislation.

“It's important to know where your kids are, who they're associating with, and who their friends are,” Mayor Eric Jackson said Monday in a phone conversation, adding that bail reform poses a challenge to public safety. “I believe lawmakers need to take a second and third look at bail reform in cooperation with law enforcement. It's frustrating to have police do the work to lock up criminals, but 24 hours later they're back on the street smiling and waving at them saying, ‘I told you I'd be back.’”

Tisheen Rasheen Mack, 26, was shot and killed around 10 p.m. Sunday. He was found lying on the sidewalk in the 800 block of East State Street suffering from numerous gunshot wounds.

Cops who were patrolling the area heard the gunfire. Witnesses at the scene said they heard eight shots. At least one vehicle in the area was also struck by bullets.

Police sources say Mack also had a gun on him, which was found while medical personnel stabilized him at the scene. Mack was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police investigate the capital city's second homicide in less than a week. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Mack had a troubled past with a history of arrests. He leaves behind at least one young daughter, according to his Facebook page.

Jackson didn’t personally know Mack, nor did he know 15-year-old Kyler Bragg, who was murdered during a shootout near the intersection of Division and Hewitt streets last week. But as is the case with many Trenton murders, the victims were known to law enforcement for repeated engagement in illegal activity. Officials say many of Trenton’s murders are retaliatory in nature and related to other illicit activity.

“Violence in the city is being committed by a handful of folk repeatedly doing these things,” Jackson said. “I understand the intentions of bail reform, but we've seen people brought in for warrants or low level crimes go through the system, then return to the street in 24 hours and commit a higher level of crime. If we had a system that really evaluated the probability of a person committing another crime, some of this violent activity wouldn't be happening in our city.”

Jackson also said the responsibility to deter crime falls upon all members of the community, not just government officials. He said parents and guardians should take advantage of resources offered by nonprofit organizations and faith-based groups to engage youth in positive alternatives to crime.

“It has to start in the household,” Jackson said. “The city doesn't necessarily have programs that help citizens learn to be an effective parent, but there are organizations in our city that absolutely do that. We're working with the hand we've been dealt, but with the people being arrested being younger and younger, it creates a difficult position for us.”

So far this year, 13 people have been killed in Trenton, which includes the hit-and-run death of 39-year-old Lea Pringle.

“We can't lock away this problem,” Jackson said. “We have to find long-term, sustainable solutions, and it's going to take a collaborative approach from everyone to figure out how to make a real impact in our city.”

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating Mack’s death and no arrests have been made at this time. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

Police investigate a murder in the 800 block of East State Street Sunday night. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)