Trenton man accused of revenge killing indicted by grand jury
TRENTON » A man accused of killing someone who previously shot him in the butt has been indicted on murder and weapons offenses.
A Mercer County grand jury indicted Leroy Tutt last week in connection with the revenge killing of 19-yearold Nebate Kalil Washington, also known as Nebate Anderson.
Washington was gunned down on June 30 across the street from his home in the first block of Sanford Street, where police found him lying on the ground between two vehicles. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police sources say Washington was the person who shot Tutt on the afternoon of April 26 in the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Sources say Tutt ran into a deli as Washington fired at him. The incident shattered the deli’s glass door and left Tutt with a gunshot wound to the butt.
Washington was eventually arrested on May 2, by members of the Violent Crimes Unit who jumped out of their car when they saw him because he matched the description of a suspect accused in connection with two shootings. Detectives found a gun in Washington’s waistband that day, but he was only charged with weapons possession while police awaited the results of ballistics test.
Washington was released from jail after that gun arrest, pursuant to New Jersey’s new bail reform law. Police say ballistics tests later revealed the gun he had that Tuesday morning was used to shoot Tutt the week prior and additional warrants were issued for Washington’s arrest.
He was killed before police found him.
Tutt, 31, maintains his innocence, but two cooperating witnesses and cellphone tower data have implicated him in Washington’s murder.
Police reviewed communications data and confirmed that Tutt’s cellular telephone was in the general area of Sanford Street during the killing, according to court documents. But in an August court hearing the public defender representing him argued that the cell tower data “is not a link to the homicide.”
Tutt, who also lives on Sanford Street, is charged with murder and related weapons offenses. He remains held in the Mercer County Correction Center.