In the late afternoon of March 1, 2022, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet of a Trenton, New Jersey neighborhood, leading to the untimely death of 19-year-old Shimon Nesmith Jr. Nesmith, a male, was in a vehicle on North Willow Street when at least 11 rounds were fired. The shooting caused the vehicle, now riddled with bullets, to crash into the Life in the Word Outreach Ministry on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
First responders found Nesmith inside the heavily damaged car, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. A 21-year-old woman who was a passenger in the vehicle was also shot in the face but survived.
The investigation into the shooting was conducted by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department. Less than two months later, authorities announced that they had charged two Trenton residents, 23-year-old Quashawn Hightower and 21-year-old Desire Knighton, in connection with the fatal shooting. The pair were already incarcerated in Pennsylvania on a weapons charge at the time the murder charges were filed.
Hightower and Knighton face a string of serious charges, including murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, in addition to multiple counts of aggravated assault and various weapons offenses. Prosecutors announced their intention to file motions to have both suspects detained pending trial. While the arrests brought a measure of progress in the case, a motive for the shooting was not immediately made public.
