In the early morning hours of September 11, 2016, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet of Van Wagenen Avenue in Jersey City. When police responded to reports of shots fired at approximately 2:10 a.m., they discovered a chaotic scene. At 87 Van Wagenen Avenue, officers found 35-year-old Shaheer Parson, a male resident of the city, unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene just ten minutes later.
A subsequent examination by the medical examiner would confirm that the cause of death was a gunshot wound and the manner of death was a homicide.
The violence of that morning was not limited to Parson. Nearby, at 95 Van Wagenen Avenue, police located three female victims who had also been caught in the spray of bullets. Nina Green, 32, Diana Green, 35, and Leslie Smith, 24, all sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to their upper extremities. They were treated at the scene before being transported to Jersey City Medical Center, where they were listed in stable condition. The incident cast a somber shadow over the community, sparking an intense investigation into the deadly shooting.
For months, detectives from the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide and Gang Unit worked alongside the Jersey City Police Department to unravel the case. Their efforts culminated on December 13, 2016, with the arrest of 19-year-old Kenneth Barnes, also a resident of Jersey City. Barnes faced a litany of serious charges, including murder, attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and multiple firearms offenses. His bail was set at a steep $1,000,000 cash only.
The legal process moved forward, and in August of 2018, then 21-year-old Kenneth Barnes pleaded guilty to the murder of Shaheer Parson. In his plea, Barnes admitted to shooting Parson in the head but did not offer a motive for the slaying. As part of the agreement, he faced a sentence of up to 15 years in prison for his role in the fatal shooting that also injured three others.
