74-year-old shooting suspect ‘Mama Dean’ ordered jailed after prosecutor plays video of ‘savage’ laundromat killing in Trenton

A Trenton woman will stay in jail pending trial for her alleged role in the fatal laundromat shooting last week after a prosecutor played a surveillance video of the killing, which he described as, “in a word, savage.”

Eudean McMillan, 74, of Trenton, also known as “Mama Dean,” is charged with attempted murder, assault and weapons offenses in the shooting, which left 21-year-old Geovahnie FanFan dead and another young man wounded.

McMillan’s co-defendant, 37-year-old Darryl Parker, was also ordered back to the Mercer County jail pending trial on murder and related offenses, after Parker and his public defender did not contest the prosecution’s motion that he be held.

Prosecutors allege that Parker fired one of two shots that killed FanFan in a small office at the back of the laundromat, after being handed the .45 caliber handgun by McMillan, who had gone out to her car to get it.

The exchange following a melee in which prosecutors concede that Parker was attacked just before 12 p.m. in the laundromat on Chambers Street. A group of six young men that included FanFan pounded on Parker, while McMillan and two younger relatives were present.

A 15-year-old boy, a relative of McMillan, is also charged with murder in juvenile court, after prosecutors say he grabbed the gun as the group was leaving the ransacked Liberty III laundromat and fired an additional shot into FanFan’s body.

McMillan’s lawyer, Mark Fury, said after Friday’s hearing that he would appeal Judge Thomas F. Scully’s order that McMillan be held, asserting that the nature of the crime was insufficient cause to hold her.

Michael Grillo, the assistant Monmouth County prosecutor handling the McMillan and Parker cases, played a surveillance video from a camera positioned high up at the rear of the corner laundromat, with the back office just out of view.

Grillo said there was additional, more graphic video of the killing, but that it would not be played on Friday because some of the victim’s family members were in the courtroom. He said neither video would be released publicly.

The clip that was played in court Friday showed the group of attackers entering the front door of the laundromat and setting on Parker, with a melee ensuing amid the washers, driers and folding tables.

At one point, after Parker had been knocked to the floor, one of the assailants picked up a grocery store-style shopping cart and slammed it down on him with full force. McMillan could be seen making her way out the front door, quickly followed by a young relative.

Grillo said the older woman was headed out to get the gun from her car, with the relative sensing that and trying to stop her. McMillan then re-entered the chaotic scene carrying the dark weapon in her right hand, sending several assailants out the front door, while FanFan headed for the back.

Grillo described the action as it played on a large video monitor, showing McMillan firing two shots, including one that struck one of the assailants and one that missed. With most of the assailants having fled, McMillan then made her way toward the back of the laundromat, accompanied by the 15-year-old charged with murder.

Grillo said they were headed for the office, where FanFan had tried to hide, and where McMillan raised the gun and pointed it at FanFan, who dove for cover.

McMillan could then be seen reaching over a row of washing machines to hand the gun to Parker, who had also made his way toward the back. Holding the gun, Parker continued toward the back and out of the frame, where Grillo said he then fired a single shot that struck FanFan.

As McMillan and the others were leaving, the 15-year-old took the gun, resisted another relative’s effort to wrestle it from him, and went back to the office and also shot FanFan, Grillo said.

Fury had argued previously that McMillan was acting in self-defense, though he conceded on Friday that it was a complex determination just when the self-defense ceased.

On Friday, Grillo said the video made it clear that, once the presence of the gun sent the attackers fleeing, there was no more threat to defend. "What transpires beyond that is, in a word, savage,” Grillo said. “Ms. McMillan is literally shooting people in the back as they are running away from the laundromat.”

In ordering McMillan held, Scully noted that, despite her age and her use of wheelchair in court, the video had demonstrated her mobility, her ability to wield a deadly weapon, and her willingness to use it.

“The defendant represents a potential danger to the community,” Scully said.

McMillan and Parker were arrested shortly after the shooting, when she was identified on the video by Trenton Police Sgt. Anthony Manzo, who was one of the first to arrive to the scene and recognized her from a July 2016 case.

In the earlier case, prosecutors alleged McMillan was selling prescription pills out of her Chestnut Avenue home and guarding her stash with a shotgun and .38 caliber handgun.

But the judge noted in court Friday that McMillan, then 71, had never been convicted of the charges, and rather she had successfully completed a pretrial intervention program, or PTI, and she was not on probation at the time of the laundromat shooting.

Both Grillo and Fury declined to say why the assailants might have attacked Parker. “I have no idea who these kids are,” Fury said.

Both men also declined to characterize the relationship between Parker and McMillan.

Grillo also declined to say where or how McMillan obtained the gun used in the shooting, which had not been recovered as of Friday.

One of FanFan’s family members present in court was his grandfather, Audilien Pierre, a resident of West Palm Beach, Florida, who is originally from Haiti. Speaking through teary eyes, Pierre declined to talk about his grandson, other than to say he would be buried on Saturday.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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