TRENTON – Piece be with you.
Hours after city officials and clergy gathered at City Hall for a Thursday morning peace rally, a woman was shot in the face on the 1400 block of West State Street, according to police sources.
The woman’s condition was unknown, as a Trenton Police spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.
Mayor Reed Gusciora didn’t answer a phone call seeking comment on the latest gunplay, after he and about 30 members of the faith-based community gathered for the peace rally.
“Our hearts are broken because of the shootings that continue to plague our neighborhoods,” Gusciora said at the rally.
The latest shooting comes a day after a 12-year-old girl underwent emergency surgery to remove 12 inches of her intestine after she was shot.
She was struck in the stomach in a triple shooting Wednesday morning while she played at a neighborhood park with her 7-year-old sister.
The 7-year-old was also hospitalized after hitting her head while running for cover.
The little girl’s shooting brought out city officials in full force, reminiscent of the March 2006 shooting of then-7-year-old Tajahnique Lee, who was riding her bike through the Wilson-Haverstick housing project when she was struck in the face by a stray bullet.
“I’ve had all I can stand. My heart is aching. … I can’t bear this,” Trenton council president Kathy McBride said at a Wednesday news conference.
Much like Lee, the 12-year-old girl was collateral damage in a personal dispute, authorities said. The gunman appeared to be targeting a group of people gambling in an alleyway near Wood Street.
Two men, ages 31 and 36, were also felled in the volley of bullets. No arrests have been announced in Wednesday’s shooting.
During the news conference, TPD Director Sheilah Coley called on the community to help cops solve the violence.
“If two young girls can’t galvanize this community, then we have no hope and nothing else will,” she said. “We can still take this city back.”
