New Jersey Teen Charged with Killing Five in Two-Month Spree
Posted: Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
A New Jersey teenager who is accused of having murdered five people over the course of two months has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Shiquan Bellamy, 19, appeared in a courtroom to answer charges of felony murder, armed robbery and various weapons offenses—charges for which he could receive life in prison if he is convicted. Also charged are the teen’s cousin, Latonia Bellamy, 19, and Darmelia Lawrence, also 19. Each of the young women have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Police initially charged Shiquan Bellamy with the shooting deaths of an engaged couple, Michael Muchiaki, 27, and Nia Haqq, 25, on Easter Sunday. The pair was returning home after attending a party to celebrate their engagement, and were killed during a carjacking gone awry. Both were shot in the back of the head, Muchiaki from a shotgun blast and Haqq with a pistol.
Forensic evidence recovered from Haqq’s car led to Lawrence and Latonia Bellamy, who tipped off police to Shiquan Bellamy’s involvement during an interview. It was “great detective work,” according to Hudson County prosecutor Edward DeFazio, that led to the discovery that Shiquan Bellamy had committed three additional murders in the previous weeks.
Mileak Richardson and Lester “Bleek” Thompson, who were cousins, were killed around 4 a.m. on Feburary 2, after being robbed of cash, a cell phone and drugs. Shiquan Bellamy is also accused of having shot Lamonte Wright, 20, as he walked his girlfriend to her car, in what police described as a “premeditated attack.”
“This is beyond humanity that one young man can be charged with causing this much destruction of human life,” said DeFazio.
Bellamy was picked up for questioning on April 6, and arrested for carrying suspected narcotics. He remains in jail on a $6 million cash bond.
Two other men are additionally charged in the killings of Richardson and Thompson—Hakeem Lester and Ronald Lawrence, both 21. Lawrence is the brother of Darmelia Lawrence, who is charged with Bellamy in the carjacking shootings.
Shiquan Bellamy was incarcerated between March and October 2009 for drug possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, and was on parole when the killings took place.
At a recent press conference, Jersey City Police Director Sam Jefferson called Shiquan Bellamy’s actions a “crime spree of the devil.”
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