In the spring of 2020, the life of 37-year-old Danavan Phillips was abruptly cut short on the streets of Trenton, New Jersey. On the evening of Monday, March 23rd, the city's gunfire detection system alerted police to a shooting on Oakland Street. Responding officers arrived around 6:30 p.m. to find Phillips grievously wounded. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but his injuries proved fatal, and he succumbed to them a short time later.
The investigation into the shooting moved swiftly.
Authorities determined that Phillips had been involved in an argument that escalated to deadly violence. He had been shot once under the chin. The following morning, detectives from the Mercer County Homicide Task Force descended on a home in the neighboring Hamilton Township.
There, they took a 14-year-old boy into custody in connection with the fatal shooting. Due to his age, the suspect's name was not made public. He was subsequently charged with murder and weapons offenses and was held at a youth detention center. The specifics of the argument that led to the shooting were not released by authorities. Danavan Phillips was remembered in his obituary as a graduate of Trenton Central High School who had been employed by Central Jersey Recycling and Forman Mills, and was also known as a skillful DJ.
