Curfews in Trenton after shootings leave three dead, hours apart

TRENTON — The mayor of New Jersey's capital city ordered an 8 p.m. nightly curfew and a crackdown on all-terrain vehicles and other off-road vehicles following a series of shootings over a four-hour period that authorities said left three people dead and at least four others wounded.

This story has been updated to confirm the third death, confirmed last Monday afternoon.

Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said Monday he would ask the council to reconsider a ban on ATVs as well as an increase in fines for people violating the curfew. And he said he was using emergency powers to order confiscation of off-road vehicles parked on city roads or operated in city limits, and would shut down gas stations selling fuel for them.

Although most people were following the governor's stay-at-home order and social distancing protocols, “too many took to the parks and streets without regard to the public’s health and well-being," Gusciora said in a statement.

“Moreover, much of the violence can be attributed to unlawful ATV riders, who in at least one incident utilized them in the shootings" he said.

It wasn't clear if any of the four shootings in Trenton on Sunday were connected. No arrests have been made, and authorities have not disclosed possible motives.

The first occurred around 5 p.m. in the area of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Bond Street, when authorities said several suspects approached a large group at a basketball court and fired roughly 40 shots overall.

Frederick Mason, 20, of Trenton, and another man were both shot in the torso and were taken to a hospital, where Mason died a short time later. The second man remained hospitalized Monday, but his name and further details on his condition were not disclosed.

About two hours after the first shooting, another one occurred on Hoffman Avenue, where authorities said a large crowd had gathered to watch a street fight. A woman who was among the onlookers standing on a sidewalk was shot in the head by an unknown shooter, who apparently fled on foot. The woman, identified as Quamierah Massey, 24, of Trenton, was taken to a hospital, and authorities said Monday night she had been pronounced dead.

The final shooting occurred around 9 p.m. Sunday, when at least one person in a passing vehicle fired numerous shots at a group of people hanging out in the area of Garfield Avenue, authorities said.

Responding officers initially found three victims: one who was struck in the hand, another struck in the leg and a third who was struck in the head. All three were being treated at a hospital, but their names and further details were not released.

While investigating that shooting, authorities found the body of Dabree Brannon, 30, of Trenton, who had been fatally shot in the backyard of a nearby home.

There were other incidents in the city where shots were fired Sunday night, authorities said, but no one apparently was struck by bullets in those cases.

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