Trenton Mayor Vows Justice After Guatemalan Immigrant Gunned Down in Chambersburg

A 29-year-old Guatemalan immigrant was shot to death during an apparent robbery on Whittaker Avenue in Trenton's Chambersburg neighborhood late Sunday, prompting the city's mayor to make an emotional appeal to the city's Latino residents to trust local police despite deep fears tied to immigration enforcement. Trenton police officers responded to the 600 block of Whittaker Avenue at 11:38 p.m. on August 23, performed CPR on Maicol Metzler Chic after finding him with a chest wound, and rushed him to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Mayor Reed Gusciora said Chic's death marked Trenton's sixth homicide of 2026, according to an official statement reported by Insider NJ. As reported by NJ.com, investigators suspect two gunmen accosted Chic as he walked home with two other people. The case remains an ongoing investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor's homicide task force.

A Mayor's Direct Appeal to Chambersburg

Gusciora visited Chic's family Tuesday and directed the city's social services team to reach out to them, according to the outlet's report. The mayor said Chic's relatives had personally asked city officials for help solving the murder, and he discussed arrangements to return Chic's remains to Guatemala after speaking with Guatemalan Consul General Hugo Hun Archila in Philadelphia.

“Latino and Guatemalan residents are part of Trenton and deserve to feel safe,” Gusciora said, adding that violence against any member of the community is unacceptable. He acknowledged that immigrants are often reluctant to approach police and urged everyone in the city to remain aware of their surroundings, while stressing that local authorities want to solve Chic's murder and asking all communities to cooperate with Trenton police and report suspicious activity to 911.

A Pattern of Targeted Robberies

The Guatemalan Merchants Association told the outlet that Hispanic residents are targeted in Trenton while returning home from work, and that robbery targets are often known to carry cash and may not call police out of fear. The robbery victim in Sunday's case did not call police himself, the report notes. Gusciora said he was informed that a South Trenton resident had Ring camera footage of a young Hispanic man being robbed on Centre Street, and separate Ring footage captured a crime in front of a South Trenton home.

Gusciora said Chic's murder could be related to his ethnicity, per the mayor's own account, and he called for Trenton police to increase their presence in the neighborhood. Trenton police have found that some crime victims in Chambersburg and South Trenton fear cooperating with investigators because of their immigration status, even as ICE agents remain a daily presence in Chambersburg, according to the same report.

Trenton's Sanctuary Law and a Changing Neighborhood

The reluctance to call police did not emerge in a vacuum. Two months before Chic's killing, the Trenton City Council voted 4-2 to pass Ordinance 26-048, barring Trenton police from aiding ICE in civil immigration enforcement, using city resources for federal operations, or letting federal agents onto city property without a signed judicial warrant, according to WHYY. Organizers from the grassroots group Resistencia en Acción NJ led the community campaign behind that ordinance, mobilizing South Trenton residents to testify before the council about police interactions and the federal immigration presence in the neighborhood.

The ordinance built on statewide protections. In March 2026, Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation codifying New Jersey's 2018 Immigrant Trust Directive into permanent law, establishing statutory restrictions on state and local police assisting federal immigration authorities with civil enforcement. That made New Jersey the 10th state in the nation to bar state, county, and municipal police from entering or extending 287(g) agreements with ICE, per Bolts Mag. A companion law enacted the same month also bars officers from wearing masks or disguises while interacting with the public and requires them to show department identification before detaining anyone, according to the New Jersey League of Municipalities.

Chambersburg, where Whittaker Avenue sits, was Trenton's primary Italian-American enclave for much of the 20th century before transforming into the city's main commercial and residential hub for Guatemalan, Costa Rican, and Ecuadorian immigrants. Guatemalan residents now make up the single largest Hispanic ancestry group in Trenton, representing roughly 14.7% of the city's population, while Hispanic or Latino residents overall account for more than 46% of Trenton's total population, according to demographic data cited in the research record.

Tip Line Remains Open

Anyone with information about Chic's killing can contact Mercer County Prosecutor's Office Detective Zachary Ortman at 609-273-2451 or [email protected]. City and state leaders have framed the trust laws as a way to reassure immigrant residents that contacting police will not trigger deportation, but Chic's death underscores a persistent vulnerability: immigrant workers who carry cash remain targets for violent crime, even as lingering fear of federal enforcement continues to hinder witness cooperation in cases like his.