Zaire Smith was arrested by the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force in the city Thursday morning.
TRENTON — An 18-year-old city man arrested Thursday is being held on felony murder charges and $1 million full cash bail in the killing of a 31-year-old father of two last month, police said yesterday.
Zaire Smith was arrested by the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force in the city Thursday morning, Lt. Mark Kieffer said. The victim, Rasheen Jones, was killed the night of July 23 as he left a corner store in the West Ward.
“We believe the intent was robbery,” Kieffer said.
The holdup on a dark and isolated portion of East Stuyvesant Avenue quickly devolved into violence, with Jones fatally shot in the head. Jones’ body was found by the brother of his girlfriend, police said.
Detectives believe a second person was involved in the robbery and murder, and warrants have been issued for that person’s arrest. Police did not release that suspect’s name or description, fearing it would harm their efforts to track the person down.
Jones, who worked at Mason’s barber shop on Pennington Avenue six and seven days a week to support his young family, was remembered as a loving father by his co-workers. They said he had just gone out to purchase toilet paper for the home he shared with his girlfriend around 9 p.m. on a Tuesday night when he was killed.
Police yesterday gave a significant portion of the credit for Smith’s arrest to wounded Detective Edgar Rios, the primary city investigator on the case who was shot twice during an unrelated gunfight Aug. 15. Rios remains in critical but stable condition at Capital Health Regional Medical Center, but Kieffer said leads dug up by Rios were essential to cracking the case.
“He did a lot of the footwork; he got a lot of leads,” Kieffer said of Rios.
A blood drive in honor of Rios and Detective James Letts, who was wounded in the shootout that left domestic violence suspect Eric McNeil dead, had a high turnout again yesterday. The next scheduled blood drive will be Wednesday, Aug. 28 at the Trenton Free Public Library on Academy Street from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Rios worked alongside Detective Gary Wasko of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office on the homicide investigation. Warrants for Smith’s arrest were signed Wednesday, and Smith was captured by the federal fugitive hunters on the 400 block of Rutherford Avenue at 7:20 a.m. Thursday, police said.
Smith was charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose.
The weapon used in the homicide has not been recovered, Kieffer said.
Jones’ death was the city’s 23rd homicide of 2013. Seven other people have been slain in the city in the month since his death. Anyone with information on the case should call police at (609) 989-4170, or the Confidential Tip Line at (609) 989-3663.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.
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