Anatomy of the Trenton arts
festival shooting: Part 1
As the story develops, the one certainty is that
the law enforcement response was a job well done
It’s been two months since a gang-related active shooter situation
involving multiple suspects dramatically terminated Trenton’s
annual Art All Night Festival.
Yet the investigation continues: Surveillance and bodycam
videos are being analyzed frame by frame; ballistics tests are being
meticulously conducted; witnesses are being interviewed; and
reports are being processed.
It’s a long and arduous process that involves multiple state
and federal agencies all crossing t’s and dotting i’s. For now, the
focus is on the heroic and selfless actions of the law enforcement
officers who rushed into an unknown active shooter situation
against an oncoming stampede of approximately 1,000 panicking
festivalgoers.
Some officers confronted suspects, while others scooped up
wounded victims and transported them to the hospital in their
police cruisers. And by the time it was over, all things considered,
their response can be cleanly and completely filed under “Job Well
Done.”
“[Officers] acted incredibly professionally,” says Angelo Onofri,
the Mercer County prosecutor who is overseeing the investigation.
“They acted quickly. And they acted decisively.
“The Art All Night event had been going on for 12 years,” he notes.
“There never had been any issue from any type of perspective. The
festival features food, stages with various live music acts — jazz to
hip-hop and everything in between — and a lot of performance art,
fire tossing, etc. It’s always been very peaceful and well attended
and something the Trenton community looks forward to every
year.”
But then Onofri paints the picture of an event that quickly
deteriorated.
“This year, right around midnight, it started changing from a
family event to something a little rowdier,” he recalls. “At that point,
the officers on scene went to the event organizer and said ‘It’s
starting to get out of hand, let’s lock the building and start to get
everyone out.’ They tried to corral people away from the area with
an announcement saying that the festival would reopen the next
morning, but the crowd stuck around.”
It started with some pushing, and then gunshots rang out.
Security camera footage from an adjacent building captured
crowds rushing out of the building, as police raced against the tide
to confront the unknown danger.