A man shot on the 300 block of East State Street in Trenton on Tuesday night died early Wednesday. Police and NJ Transit officers took a 43-year-old Camden man into custody near the River LINE station.
Daily Voice identified him as Anthony Harden and reported that officers found him with a gunshot wound to his lower chest around 7:30 p.m. NBC10 Philadelphia reported that Harden was 41 and from Allentown, New Jersey.
From the Block to the Hospital
NJ.com reported that Trenton police were dispatched to 302 East State Street at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday for a reported shooting. Capt. David Ordille said the victim died from the injuries at 1:35 a.m. Wednesday. In that account, the identity had not been released.
Daily Voice reported that Harden was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in extremely critical condition and pronounced dead early Wednesday.
Stopped Near the River LINE
A witness saw Leon DeShields III leave the scene and head toward the Trenton Train Station, then directed officers to him near the River LINE station, Daily Voice reported. NJ Transit and Trenton police took him into custody there. NBC10 reported that police stopped him before he boarded a train.
DeShields was carrying a .380-caliber handgun, according to Daily Voice, which reported charges of attempted murder and weapons offenses. Prosecutors said they would seek to keep him detained pending trial.
NJ.com reported that the Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the shooting. Daily Voice said Thursday that the investigation remained ongoing.
The Counts Through May
Statewide, the previous year had moved in the other direction. New Jersey Monitor reported that shootings fell to a record low in 2025: 559 people shot in 487 incidents, down from 778 victims in 2024 and 924 in 2023. Officials counted 107 shooting fatalities, 31% fewer than in 2024. Atlantic City, Camden, Newark, Paterson and Trenton all saw their shooting numbers drop.
The city's own comparison stops well before this week. Peterson's Breaking News of Trenton reported that, in a May CitiStat presentation, Trenton police counted three homicides from Jan. 1 through May 3, against seven in the same stretch of 2025, a 57% decrease. Citywide reported crime was down 20% over that window. Officers recovered 83 firearms in the first months of 2026, compared with 95 a year earlier. The same presentation put total arrests at 708, up from 673, and gave the Shooting Response Team a 54% homicide clearance rate and a 100% overall clearance rate.
That tally closed May 3, more than six months before officers were sent to East State Street at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday.
