Two arrested in slaying of Lance Beckett

TRENTON >> Two teens were arrested in connection with the murder of Lance Beckett in the city’s West Ward last Sunday.

Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri told

that the Homicide Task Force arrested 18-year-old Quashawn Emanuel and a 17-year-old, both of whom are Trenton residents, for the murder on East Stuyvesant Avenue.

The pair was charged with murder, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Emanuel is currently being held on one-million dollars cash bail. The juvenile is being housed in the Middlesex County Youth Correctional facility.

The victim, Lance Beckett, 19, of Trenton was gunned down on East Stuyvesant Avenue last Sunday. According to witnesses at the scene he was stomped after being shot.

So far this year, 21 people have been killed in the capital city, which includes the police-involved shooting death of Alfred Toe and the hit-and-run death of Edwardo Martinez. While the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit considers “death by auto” a manslaughter it does not as a homicide statistic. The Trentonian includes death by auto and justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or contact the Trenton Police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.