On a summer evening in Trenton, New Jersey, a dispute believed to have been settled turned fatal, ending the life of 26-year-old Jafar Raheed Lewis, a Black male known in the local hip-hop scene as 'Young Farr'. The shooting occurred on August 23, 2013, on Middle Rose Street. Lewis was in a car with his fiancée, Twanna Robinson, when another vehicle pulled alongside them.
Both Lewis and the driver of the other car, who Robinson identified as Wayne Bush, exited their vehicles.
What began as a street confrontation quickly escalated. Robinson recounted hearing two gunshots and then seeing her fiancé on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head; she stated that Lewis was unarmed. According to Robinson, after the shooting, she screamed Bush's name to ensure neighbors would know who was responsible. Lewis was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead early the next morning, August 24, 2013. His death marked the 31st homicide in Trenton that year, tying a record set in 2005.
The suspect, Wayne Bush, then 35 years old, had close ties to Lewis's family; he was engaged to Lewis's mother's niece. Reports indicated that the two men had a disagreement prior to the shooting, but had a long conversation the night before, leading Lewis to believe the issue was resolved. Following the shooting, Bush fled the scene and remained at large for a short time. He later surrendered to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office on August 30, accompanied by his lawyer.
Bush was indicted for murder and weapons offenses. The legal proceedings that followed included a mistrial. Ultimately, over four years after the shooting, in October 2017, Wayne Bush pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of second-degree reasonable provocation manslaughter. In December 2017, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for the killing of Jafar 'Young Farr' Lewis.
