In the early hours of a Tuesday morning in April 2015, the life of Marcellus Mayes, a 29-year-old man, was tragically cut short on the streets of East Orange, New Jersey. Around 2:30 a.m. on April 21st, police discovered Mayes unconscious and unresponsive at the intersection of North 15th Street and what has been reported as either North Ward Place or Hedden Place. It was soon determined that he had sustained a fatal gunshot wound.
The Essex County Prosecutor's Office immediately launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
The investigation into the shooting death of Marcellus Mayes led authorities to identify a suspect. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Damon Hairston, a 23-year-old with addresses in the nearby communities of Bloomfield and Orange. For a couple of weeks, Hairston remained at large, but law enforcement was actively pursuing him. The search for the man accused of the killing extended beyond the borders of New Jersey.
On the morning of May 6, 2015, the manhunt for Damon Hairston came to an end. Acting on information, the FBI, along with local police and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, conducted a raid on a home in Easton, Pennsylvania. Hairston was taken into custody without incident. He was subsequently charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. A judge ordered him to be held on a $750,000 bond, pending extradition back to Essex County to face the charges related to the death of Marcellus Mayes.
