Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri and Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. announced today that three teenagers were arrested over the weekend in connection with a shooting that occurred on October 6th that killed 58-year-old Wilma Rutledge and wounded a 14-year-old girl.
Authorities arrested 18-year-old Zion Williams and charged him with murder, attempted murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to have Williams detained.
The charges are a result of an investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, specifically lead investigator Scott Peterson of the Trenton Police Department.
According to authorities, Williams was taken into custody Friday night in Trenton by the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force. Then, on Sunday evening, Detectives Nancy Diaz and Scott Peterson of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, along with Ewing police, located two juvenile males in a home in Ewing Township. Both 16-year-olds - whose names will not be released because they are juveniles - were taken into custody without incident and face the same charges as Williams.
The shooting incident occurred at approximately 3:10 p.m. on October 6th, near the intersection of Carver Lane and North Willow Street in Trenton. Two shooting victims, Rutledge and a 14-year- old female, were transported to the hospital by private means. Rutledge was pronounced dead at the hospital while the teenager sustained non-life threatening injuries.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406.
Despite having been charged, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.