Gunman in Trenton standoff had extensive criminal past

NEW YORK -- A man shot dead by police in Trenton, N.J., after a 37-hour standoff may have held a young boy and two teenage girls hostage in a small room with their mother’s decomposing body for about two weeks after killing her and one of her sons, law enforcement officials said.

The abductor, 38-year-old Gerald Tyrone Murphy, died shortly after 3:45 a.m. Sunday, when police burst into the room where he had been holed up with his young captives and fired a single shot at him. The hostages, ages 4, 16 and 18, were rescued.

At a news conference, Joseph Bocchini Jr., the prosecutor for Mercer County, said Murphy, who went by the name Skip, had convictions for aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy and had been arrested on suspicion of robbery, weapons offenses and child endangerment. Murphy also had an arrest warrant out of Pennsylvania for failing to register as a sex offender, Bocchini said.

SWAT teams were called to the two-story red brick house Friday afternoon after family members became concerned that they had not seen Carmelita Stevens, who lived there with Murphy and her children, for many days.

Police saw Murphy brandishing a handgun through the window of a front bedroom. Trenton’s police director, Ralph Rivera Jr., said they began talking with Murphy, who told them there was a deceased individual in the room with him and another body in the rear bedroom.

At that point, police forced their way into the back bedroom and found a body “in an advanced state of decomposition,” Rivera told reporters. He did not identify the body, but a relative said it was that of Stevens’ 13-year-old son.

Police also entered the basement, where they found Stevens’ 19-year-old son, Jovan.

Jovan Stevens was unharmed but told officers he had not seen his mother or siblings since about April 24 -- about the time officials believe Murphy killed Carmelita Stevens and the 13-year-old.

Carmelita Stevens’ corpse was found in the front bedroom along with Murphy, her 4-year-old son, and her two-teenage daughters.

During the standoff, Murphy had warned police that he had three children barricaded in the front room with him and was armed with explosives and a gun. Officers passed food and water to the children through a window while waiting for a chance to stage a rescue.

When they saw an opportunity to move into the room, Police Col. Rick Fuentes said, they fired a shot at Murphy “to stop a threatening action against one of the children” by him. Murphy was hit once and died. The children were taken to a hospital for evaluation, and Jovan Stevens was reunited with an aunt, Sonja Kelly.

Kelly said Jovan, who is autistic, had described Murphy as a “monster,” The Times of Trenton reported Monday. “He said he was nice on the outside and mean on the inside,” Kelly said. “He said he’s a monster.”

According to Kelly, Carmelita Stevens had been living with Murphy about two months. Previously she had lived for about a decade in Florida and had moved back to Trenton recently.

Kelly identified the slain 13-year-old as Quavon Stevens. She speculated that he was killed trying to defend his mother against Murphy. “He loved his mom, and that’s how he died,” she said.

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