Prosecutor: 19-year-old charged in shooting death of 9-year-old Trenton girl

A 19-year-old man is facing charges related to the shooting death of a 9-year-old girl in Trenton.

News 12 Staff

Mar 30, 2022, 9:59 AM

Updated 923 days ago

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A 19-year-old man is facing charges related to the shooting death of a 9-year-old girl in Trenton.
Authorities say that Isiah Roberts is responsible for the death of Sequoya Bacon-Jones. The girl was struck by a stray bullet outside her home at the Kingsbury Square apartment complex Friday night.
Courtesy: Mercer County Prosecutor's Office
Sequoya was outside playing at the time of the shooting. When she heard the gunfire, she tried to run away, but was struck by one bullet.
“Now all I have is memories. I can’t make any more. She can’t do anymore and that’s not fair,” says Sequoya’s mother Sacha Bacon-Jones.
Sequoya was a fourth grader at Parker Elementary School.
“She loved school. She loved being active. She loved playing with her friends, skating and making TikToks,” Bacon-Jones says.
The girl’s mother stood alongside the Mercer County prosecutor who explained that the gunfire was provoked by an argument that started on Facebook between two women.
"It was a dispute over how one of the women was raising her children. They were called out on Facebook,” says Prosecutor Angelo Onofrio.
One of the women is the sister of Roberts, who allegedly got involved in the argument and started firing his gun. One of those bullets struck Sequoya in the upper body, according to law enforcement officials.
Police spotted Roberts on Tuesday in his Acura along Deutz Avenue in Trenton. As they pulled him over, officials say he jumped out and started running through the woods. Police chased him as he ran over Route 129, and eventually into the Delaware River at the old Trenton Marine Terminal. This is where he was caught.
The shooting touched elicited emotion from law enforcement that is not normally seen.
"If this isn't a call and if this isn't the rallying point for this idiotic and senseless violence to stop, I don't know what is,” Onofrio says.
The Trenton police director says he believes it could've been stopped.
“I am pleading with the citizens of Trenton to get involved and dial 911 before these things happen,” says Director Steve Wilson.
Police say Roberts was trying to drive north to East Brunswick where he planned to hide from police.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor says the Homicide Task Force was able to make this arrest with the help of those who came forward from the community to help the police.