Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora jumped the gun by declaring that there were no homicides in the city since June 1, 2022, only days before the floodgates opened to a new rash of murders, with five killings in as many weeks.
At about 3:10 p.m. on Sunday, October 9, 2022, Trenton police responded to a Shot Spotter activation for multiple rounds in the first block of Ewing Street.
Responding officers arrived on scene to discover an adult male lying on the ground at Kersey Alley suffering a gunshot wound to the shoulder area.
The victim, who has been identified as Daquan Brown, 33, of Trenton, was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.
Brown was the 17th murder victim in Trenton this year and his slaying was the fifth homicide since Gusciora prematurely declared the problem solved.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
Authorities ask anyone with information to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406. Information can also be emailed to mchtftips@mercercounty.org.
“While violent crime has continued to surge in other cities across America this summer, Trenton is doing what it takes to become a leader in urban violent crime reduction,” said Gusciora, in an August 31 statement.
The latest slayings put Gusciora’s dishonesty the spotlight in the weeks leading up to the election.
Council President Kathy McBride and Councilwoman Robin Vaughn are both challenging the incumbent in the mayor’s race.
“We are pulling out all the stops to ensure that the Capital City is a safe place for all who live, work, learn, and play here,” said Gusciora, who is locked in a heated campaign for re-election. “With the help of our law enforcement partners and members of our community, we are innovating to establish a new public safety standard and we are doing it together.”
Gusciora’s “new public safety standard” has been accomplished while burning through seven different top cops in a police department riddled with racism and corruption.
One of those former police chiefs, Sheilah A. Coley, filed a lawsuit against Gusciora claiming she was fired because she is a Black woman who refused to protect corrupt, white men working for the police department.
In his August 31 statement, Gusciora falsely claimed that homicides and shootings were down relative to both historical levels of crime.
Trenton’s murders have actually been occurring at record levels since Gusciora became mayor, reaching significantly higher numbers two years in a row.
At least 124 people lost their lives to violence in the city since Gusciora was elected mayor in 2018.
At least 40 people were killed in the city in each of 2020 and 2021.