In the early hours of July 5, 2021, a burst of gunfire shattered the pre-dawn quiet at the intersection of Prospect Street and Stuyvesant Avenue in Trenton, New Jersey, leaving a promising young life extinguished. Sixteen-year-old Dion Ellis, a male with aspirations of becoming a designer, was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Another sixteen-year-old male was also struck by the gunfire, suffering a wound to his leg, but survived the violent encounter.
Dion was known in his community as a lifeguard at the Roberto Clemente Pool and a junior varsity basketball team member. His sudden and violent death sent ripples of grief and outrage through the city. The Trenton Police Department, alongside the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, immediately launched an intensive investigation into what was described as a 'horrible crime.' Their efforts soon focused on a suspect vehicle captured on area surveillance footage.
The investigation led authorities to thirty-year-old Keith N. Jordan of Trenton. A search of his 2016 Toyota Camry uncovered a 9mm handgun equipped with a 33-round extended magazine, hollow-point bullets, and an additional empty 10-round magazine. Subsequently, a Mercer County grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against Jordan, charging him with first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, and a host of weapons offenses, including possession of a defaced firearm. Following the indictment, he was held in the Mercer County Correction Center to await trial.
