Shamere Melvin was found dead on North Clinton Avenue Wednesday night. An autopsy yesterday revealed that he suffered a gunshot wound to the head, officials said.
TRENTON — Shamere Melvin was preparing to eat dinner Wednesday night when he got a phone call and told his family that he needed to go out. He said he would be right back.
Not long after he left his Princeton Avenue home, Shamere was shot on the 300 block of North Clinton Avenue just after 8:30 p.m., Trenton police said.
Shamere, 17, was found dead at the scene and an autopsy yesterday revealed that he suffered a gunshot wound to the head, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
No motive or suspect information was immediately available, authorities said. As the Mercer County Homicide Task Force continues to investigate the crime, Shamere’s family is trying to connect the dots and find out what happened.
“This will not be another cold case,” said Marie Melvin, Shamere’s grandmother.
Shamere Melvin, left, with his cousin, Jaquise. The family is confident that Shamere was not involved with any of the city’s gangs, Melvin said.
“He wasn’t that type of child,” she said.
Shamere’s aunt was preparing dinner when he received a phone call, Marie Melvin said. The family heard him tell the person to come pick him up, she said.
One of his family members asked him where he was going.
“I’m going back out; I’ll be right back,” he said, according to his grandmother.
He was going to go out for few minutes, stop by the store to pick something up for his aunt, and then head back home to eat dinner, Marie Melvin said.
Shamere was on the phone with his girlfriend soon after he left the house, Marie Melvin said. All of the sudden, she could not hear him anymore. Minutes later, one of Marie Melvin’s granddaughters received a call, saying that Shamere had been shot.
The family believes that his murder may have been a setup, in some way connected to a girl he knew from school, Marie Melvin said. She said that this girl, whom they did not know, was in the car that came to pick Shamere up and had called him repeatedly.
While police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Shamere’s murder, the family is trying to cope with the loss of a boy who made them all smile.
Shamere Melvin as a young child with his father Archie Covington. Covington was killed in Trenton on Dec. 4, 1997. Now the family is hurting again with the loss of Shamere.
“He was a lovable, silly person. He loved to have fun and make people laugh,” one family member said.
Shamere was a senior at the Rubino Academy in Ewing and planned to go to Mercer County Community College next year to study to become a nurse and get a good job.
Marie Melvin said that she would call Shamere “doctor” because of his desire to find a job for himself in the medical field.
Shamere’s girlfriend had a baby girl from another relationship, but he accepted the child as if she was his own, family members said.
He was planning to adopt the girl after he turned 18 next year, they said.
He loved listening to his rap music, hanging out with friends and being silly to liven up whatever room he was in, Marie Melvin said.
The family has not set any funeral plans for Shamere yet.
Anyone with information may reach the homicide task force at (609) 989-6406, or call the Trenton police Confidential Tip Line at 989-3663.
Staff writer Alex Zdan contributed to this report.
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