On the evening of April 1, 2020, in Jersey City, New Jersey, 17-year-old Stephanie Jacques was walking home from her aunt's house with her mother when gunfire erupted in the area of Martin Luther King Drive and Forrest Street. A bullet struck the female in the lower body. An 18-year-old male was also wounded in the shooting. Stephanie was transported to the Jersey City Medical Center for treatment and was subsequently released.
The following morning, April 2, 2020, Stephanie's condition
took a tragic turn. After feeling lightheaded, she collapsed in her mother’s arms at home. She was rushed back to the Jersey City Medical Center but was pronounced dead at 10:57 a.m. The cause of her death was determined to be the gunshot wound she had sustained the previous day, and her death was ruled a homicide. Stephanie passed away the day before her 18th birthday.
The investigation into the shooting led to the arrests of three men from Jersey City. Within a week of the incident, Darby Shirden, 20, and Shaquan Rush, 20, were taken into custody. Months later, in December 2020, a third suspect, 22-year-old Jeremy Perez, was also arrested. All three men were charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and several weapons-related offenses in connection with the death of Stephanie Jacques and the wounding of the 18-year-old man.
