In the early evening of May 7, 2019, Maurice Rowe, a 30-year-old man from Trenton, was on Hoffman Avenue. Just after 6 p.m., while standing near the corner of Stuyvesant and Hoffman avenues, gunshots suddenly rang out. The sound alerted a nearby Trenton Police Street Crimes Unit that was responding to an unrelated call. Rowe was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives in the area witnessed a large group of people at the corner and saw a man, later identified
as Hamilton Morgan, fleeing the scene with a gun in his hand. The detectives immediately gave chase, pursuing him on foot down an alley. They were able to catch up to him and take him into custody on Ellsworth Avenue. Upon his arrest, police found a handgun and an additional loaded magazine on his person.
Hamilton Morgan, 38 years old at the time and also from Trenton, was charged with murder and several weapons offenses. In August 2021, a jury found him guilty on all counts related to the killing of Maurice Rowe. Subsequently, in February 2022, Morgan was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence was mandated under New Jersey's 'Three Strikes Law' due to his prior convictions.
