TRENTON, NJ – A Trenton man has pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated assault charges after firing a gun at a moving vehicle last October. It turns out, police tied that gun to another gang-related shooting in the city dating back to 2020.
Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin called it a “community gun” that had been used in a prior shooting allegedly committed by members of the violent “Get Money Boys” or “GMB” gang in 2020.
“Kevion Watkins, 19, of Mellon Street pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated assault for firing two bullets into a moving vehicle, striking one of the occupants in the hand following a physical altercation inside a Trenton deli last year,” Platkin said.
“A single gun can cause significant violence and destruction when it is circulated and shared by individuals involved in criminal activity,” said Acting Attorney General Platkin. “The arrest and conviction of this defendant not only brings accountability for this shooting, it also cuts off access to a community gun used for multiple violent crimes.”
According to a report issued today by Platkin:
Watkins was arrested on October 2, 2021, by Trenton Police who responded to a ShotSpotter alert of two rounds fired on Oakland Street shortly before 10 a.m. Watkins was taken into custody after he attempted to exit an Oakland Street apartment building where he fled after the shooting. Police recovered the weapon – a silver and black 9mm Ruger with a defaced serial number – under a floor mat in a common area of the building.
The gun was later linked by ballistic testing to at least one prior shooting – a May 1, 2020 incident in which five GMB members allegedly opened fire on a group of individuals on Sanhican Drive in Trenton, wounding two men. The suspects charged in that shooting are among 20 alleged members and associates of GMB who were indicted last year in connection with multiple shootings in Trenton. Those shootings also include: the December 2019 murder of a 32-year-old man; the attempted murder of a Trenton police officer in February 2020; and a June 2020 shooting that wounded several bystanders, including a 12-year-old girl who was critically injured. Watkins, who turned 18 in August 2020, is not a defendant in that case.
“By sharing intelligence with local and county law enforcement, we were able to connect the dots to secure critical evidence linking this lone shooting to a rash of gang violence terrorizing the city of Trenton,” said Director Pearl Minato of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners throughout New Jersey and beyond to remove illegal guns from our streets and hold accountable individuals who use them to carry out their violent agendas.”