On a tragic Saturday evening in Trenton, New Jersey, the life of 15-year-old Shemiah Davis was cut short by gunfire. On September 25, 2021, on the first block of Bellevue Avenue, multiple rounds were fired, leading to a ShotSpotter alert around 6:45 p.m. When police arrived at the scene, they found Shemiah with multiple gunshot wounds. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
The shooting that claimed Shemiah's life also left three other
young people wounded. Among them was 19-year-old Candice Ruff, who sustained a gunshot wound to her head and succumbed to her injuries on October 4. A 17-year-old male was shot in the leg and was in stable condition, while a 19-year-old female was critically injured with multiple gunshot wounds.
In the months that followed, an investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department led to the identification and arrest of three teenage suspects. By December 2021, two teenagers, a 17-year-old from Trenton and a 16-year-old from Hamilton, were taken into custody. The 17-year-old was apprehended in Trenton on December 1, while the 16-year-old was arrested in McDonough, Georgia, on December 8.
The investigation continued, and a third suspect, a 16-year-old from Trenton, was arrested on July 25, 2022. The two older teens, identified as Almere Barnes and Isaiah Lee, were initially charged as juveniles. However, in June 2022, the court approved a motion for them to be tried as adults. All three suspects face a litany of serious charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault, theft by receiving stolen property, and various firearms offenses.
