In the late hours of a Friday night in Jersey City, New Jersey, tragedy struck a community. On October 26, 2018, just before 11:35 p.m., the sound of gunfire shattered the autumn air in the area of 76 Brinkerhoff Street. When Jersey City Police Officers arrived at the scene, they discovered an unresponsive female victim with an apparent gunshot wound to her upper body. The young woman was identified as 17-year-old Jade Saunders, a student at Lincoln High School.
Despite the immediate response from emergency services, Jade was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of her death was later determined to be a gunshot wound, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
The shooting that claimed Jade's life also left others wounded. A 26-year-old man was found at the scene with a gunshot injury to a lower extremity and was transported to the Jersey City Medical Center for treatment. Further investigation by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Unit revealed that two other 19-year-old men from Jersey City had also been injured in the incident but had not remained at the scene. One sustained a graze wound to his torso, while the other suffered a gunshot wound to an upper extremity.
The investigation into the tragic death of Jade Saunders led to the arrests of two men from Jersey City on November 5, 2018. Alterik Ellis, 25 at the time, and Travis Defoe, then 28, were taken into custody without incident on Lexington Street. Both men were charged with a litany of offenses, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, and theft of moveable property.
Following a seven-week trial, a Hudson County jury convicted both Alterik Ellis and Travis Defoe in July 2022 for their roles in the shooting that ended Jade Saunders's life. In January 2023, the two men were each sentenced to 35 years in New Jersey State Prison for the murder of the 17-year-old girl. The sentences for their other convictions, including conspiracy to commit murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and theft, were to be served concurrently with their 35-year sentences for murder.
