The numbers in this story are pulled from Homicide Watch Trenton’s database, unless otherwise noted. For more information, use the sorting features of the victims and suspects databases, or explore the map.
In 2014, the city experienced 34 homicides, which includes the death of Darnell Stafford, who was justifiably shot and killed by police.
Although justifiable police shootings are reported to the FBI, they are not published as a homicide statistic by state police. Therefore, New Jersey State Police will report Trenton’s official homicide number as 33. The Trentonian, however, includes justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.
June was the deadliest month with six people killed. On three different dates, two people were killed in separate incidents: April 9, July 30 and Oct. 29. There was a 10-day period in which six people were killed. There were no homicides during the months of August and September.
Thirty-two victims were male; two were female.
The majority of homicides occurred in the North Ward: 13. The West Ward experienced 11 killings.
The most common age of victims was 23— four people were that age when they died. Nearly half were in their 20s (16 victims); three were teenagers.
The oldest victim was 71-year-old Felix Colon, who died from injuries sustained in a physical altercation with a fellow resident of the Water’s Edge Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. The youngest was 16-year-old Rayquan Brown, who was gunned down in the 800 block of Stuyvesant Avenue.
Twenty-nine victims were black, four were Hispanic, and one victim was white.
Shootings killed 28 people in the city, more than any other homicide method. Three people died from stabbings and two were beaten to death. One victim died by asphyxiation: 21-year-old Quran Brittingham.
Thirteen victims were pronounced dead at the scene; 21 victims died at the hospital.
Eighteen suspects were arrested in connection with 15 separate killings that occurred in 2014. Two of them were female.
The most common age of suspects was 18. The oldest suspect was 56-year-old Edna White, who is accused of stabbing her ex-lover after he caught her rummaging through his mother’s handbag.
Fifteen suspects were black, and three were Hispanic.
The majority of incidents occurred between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Nine killings occurred between 8 p.m. and midnight; seven incidents occurred between midnight and 4 a.m. It is unknown what time seven homicides occurred.
Using 2013 census data, and the 33 homicides that state police will officially report, Trenton's 2014 murder rate is 39.12 homicides per 100,000 residents.
