Loved ones shocked after high school, college track star killed in N.J. shooting

Ewing police officers on a traffic stop near Trenton Monday night heard the sound of gunfire and moments later found a man shot dead behind the wheel of a car, authorities said Monday.

The victim, Daveigh Brooks, 25, had been shot multiple times at about 9:25 p.m., the Mercer County Prosecutors Office said.

The investigation into his killing was ongoing Monday evening. The office has not announced any arrests, charges or suspected motives.

Brooks was a track star at Burlington City High School, winning races and titles in the middle distance races, 400 and 800 meters.

At Bloomfield College, in Bloomfield, he was the 2018 Rookie of the Year in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) and led the mens team to their first conference title in the programs third year of competition. Brooks held the trophy in a group photo after the presentation.

Pastor Lawrence Boyd, of the Chosen Generation Church in Trenton, has known the Brooks family since Daveigh was born. He was one of several people who posted about Brooks death on Facebook Tuesday morning, alternately expressing they were sad, yet stunned hed been killed.

Its really a shocking experience for the the church, his family and the community at large, Boyd said.

The Brooks family has had other recent losses, Boyd said. And now this, Its really, really a sad situation that his life has been cut short.

Boyd said the Brooks family is from Trenton, where Daveigh attended the Village Charter School, before his family moved to Burlington County during his high school years.

Authorities list Daveigh Brooks currently living in Ewing.

Trenton polices gunfire-detection system ShotSpotter alerted to the shooting, in the 300 block of Ellis Avenue. As they responded, Ewing police were on an unrelated traffic stop a few blocks away on Princeton and North Olden avenues when they heard the gunshots.

Ewing officers found Brooks dead in the drivers seat of a black Ford Fusion in the middle of Greeley Alley.

The crime is the Capital Citys second homicide in as many days. On Sunday, 33-year-old Daquan Brown died of a wound he suffered on Ewing Street. The citys had 17 homicides in 2022.

Anyone with information on either killing can contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6404 or mchtftips@mercercounty.org.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.