A flurry of capital city gunplay left several victims wounded and one man dead on a festive weekend filled with back-to-school community events.
Jakim Allen
Shots were fired about 1 a.m. Saturday on the 200 block of Brunswick Avenue near Southard Street, fatally striking a 21-year-old city man multiple times in the chest. Police rushed Jakim Allen to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he died from his injuries later in the afternoon, authorities said.
The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the slaying and further details of the incident were not immediately released as of 6:10 p.m. Saturday.
An obituary from 2013 identified Jakim Allen as the brother of homicide victim Hasan Lamont Allen, who died at the age of 22 in August 2013 after getting shot in Trenton and then crashing a motor vehicle in the capital city.
Saturday’s homicide capped off a six-hour period of violence that began just before 7 p.m. Friday in the West Ward when a 36-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to his left shoulder in the area of Stuyvesant and Hoffman avenues, police said. That victim was being treated at the hospital in stable condition.
The second shooting occurred about 11:20 p.m. Friday in the 200 block of Chambers Street, striking a 27-year-old male victim in his shoulder and back. That victim was also being treated at the trauma center in stable condition, according to police.
The third shooting occurred late Friday night, just before midnight, when a 22-year-old man suffered a gunshot graze wound to his lower leg in the area of Nassau and East Miller streets, which is literally around the corner from Capital Health Regional Medical Center. This victim ran to the hospital for treatment and was later released.
The Mercer County Shooting Response Team was at the hospital investigating the first two shooting incidents when Friday’s third gunshot victim came running into the trauma center for treatment, according to Trenton Police Capt. Stephen Varn.
Then the fatal shooting occurred about 1 a.m. Saturday a few blocks down the street from Capital Health Regional Medical Center. Police found Allen suffering from life-threatening injuries and therefore placed him into a patrol vehicle and rushed over to the trauma center, where he underwent emergency surgery but was too gravely wounded and was eventually pronounced dead about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.
The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the fatal shooting while the Shooting Response Team is investigating the three other incidents of gunplay.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora (center) steps inside a hop sack as he prepares to race against city youth during the 12th annual anti-violence Community Day event hosted by Fathers and Men United For a Better Trenton at Cadwalader Park Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. (CITY OF TRENTON PHOTO)
Fathers and Men United For a Better Trenton hosted its annual anti-violence Community Day event at Cadwalader Park on Saturday. The weekend also featured events honoring city youth as well as Shiloh Baptist Church’s annual Back to School Fest.
“All the shootings and all, but you still see hope out there and enthusiasm for the city,” Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora told The Trentonian at Saturday’s Community Day event.
Prior to getting gunned down, Saturday’s homicide victim was known to police as a street hustler. The 12th annual Community Day event at Cadwalader Park promoted a “stop the violence” message.
“We need to come together,” said Lemmon Jackson of the Fathers and Men United group, “come from the streets and talk to these young people.”
Police on Saturday announced no arrests in connection with any of the four shooting incidents. Police also did not release any suspect descriptions.
Anyone with information on the homicide can contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406. Anyone with information on the non-fatal shootings can contact the Trenton Police Confidential Tip Line at (609) 989-3663.