By: Richard L. Smith
A Mercer County jury has convicted a Trenton man in connection with a 2022 shooting that killed a 19-year-old and seriously injured a woman.
According to Mercer County Prosecutor Janetta D. Marbrey, Quashawn Hightower, 28, was found guilty on November 5, 2026, of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, weapons offenses and receiving stolen property.
The shooting occurred on March 1, 2022, near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Race Street in Trenton.
Police responding to reports of gunfire discovered a heavily damaged, bullet-riddled vehicle that had crashed into the Life in the Word Outreach Ministry building.
Shimon Nesmith Jr., 19, of Trenton, was found suffering from gunshot wounds and later died at Capital Health Regional Medical Center.
A 21-year-old woman was also wounded in the face and both legs.
Investigators with the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and Trenton Police Department identified a Toyota Corolla used after the shooting and tracked it through GPS technology to Pennsylvania.
Authorities stopped the vehicle the following day, locating Hightower in the passenger seat and his girlfriend, Desire Knighton, behind the wheel.
A subsequent search uncovered the firearm used in the shooting hidden in the vehicle's trunk near the spare tire, prosecutors said.