TRENTON – A city man was shot and killed Friday night in the Villa Park neighborhood, marking Trenton’s 15th homicide of 2019.
The latest gunplay occurred about 8 p.m. Friday on the 200 block of Commonwealth Avenue in the East Ward. Police responded to the area on a report of shots fired and found 32-year-old Michael Barnes lying facedown on the walkway between two houses, authorities said.
Barnes suffered at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Barnes was widely known by the alias “Murder Mike” for the street life he led, according to public records. He was previously targeted in a hit attempt several years ago, according to Trentonian news accounts.
As previously reported in May 2015, Barnes was shot at days before testifying he had witnessed Keith Wells-Holmes shoot and kill Trenton graffiti artist Andre Corbett outside a crime-ridden housing complex on Jan. 21, 2013.
As a result of the assassination attempt, authorities placed Barnes into witness protection during the Wells-Holmes murder trial and escorted him into and out of court each day with heavy security, the newspaper first reported in May 2015, citing a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Days after Barnes testified, a trial jury found Wells-Holmes not guilty on all counts May 27, 2015.
At the time, a defense attorney attacked Barnes’ credibility, referred to him as a jailhouse snitch and said he could not be trusted. In the end, the jury had reasonable doubt in Barnes’ testimony and exonerated Wells-Holmes in the slaying of 35-year-old Corbett.
After the trial ended, a source told The Trentonian that Barnes was likely relocated out of state because he would be a “dead man” if he remained in Trenton. The prophecy came to fruition on Friday when armed assailants shot and killed Barnes in New Jersey’s capital city.
No arrests have been announced and no suspect descriptions have been released in the deadly crime as of Saturday afternoon. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406.
Trentonian staff writer Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.
