Arrest Made in Trenton Homicide
Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri reported today that an investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department has led to the arrest of a Trenton man for this weekend’s fatal shooting of Mr. Daquan Basnight.
Mercer County authorities said Mr. Matthew Tanner, 36, was arrested without incident Tuesday evening in Trenton by members of the MCHTF, the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Trenton Police Street Crimes Unit.
Police charged Tanner with one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of certain second-degree persons not to possess a weapon.
The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain Tanner pending trial.
According to police at approximately 12:20 a.m. on Sunday, August 1, the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system activated for multiple rounds in the 800 block of Stuyvesant Avenue.
Police responded and located the victim, 30-year-old Basnight of Ewing, lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds to his face and body.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call HTF Detective Shawn Bruton at (609) 989-6406. Information can also be emailed to mchtftips@mercercounty.org.
Despite having been charged, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.