An Essex County jury has convicted a Newark man of first-degree murder in the 2023 street shooting of a 60-year-old man, a verdict announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, by Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II — nearly three years after the killing and a flight across the country that ended with federal marshals in Texas.
Source: Essex County Prosecutor's Office
Antwine King, 35, of Newark, was found guilty on October 20, 2026, after three days of jury deliberations in Essex County Superior Court. The jury convicted him on all three charges: first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, and second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. King now faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on January 5, 2027.
Source: Englebrook Independent News
A street argument on Clinton Place turned fatal
According to the evidence presented by prosecutors at trial, the fatal encounter happened on October 22, 2023, at the intersection of Clinton Place and Renner Avenue in Newark, the largest city in Essex County. King became involved in a verbal argument with Vincent Anderson, 60, before shooting him once in the back and fleeing the scene on foot, prosecutors said.
The single gunshot proved fatal. The killing triggered an investigation by the Essex County Homicide Task Force together with the Newark Police Division — the county-city team that handles Newark's homicide cases.
Arrested six days later, 1,500 miles away in Texas
Six days after the shooting, King was apprehended in Laredo, Texas, by members of the United States Marshals Service, the federal agency tasked with tracking fugitives across state lines. Laredo sits on the U.S.–Mexico border, more than 1,500 miles from Newark. The prosecutor's account does not say how King travelled there or when he was returned to New Jersey to face the Essex County charges; what is established is that the manhunt ended within the week, with federal marshals making the arrest.
The trial and the prosecutors' words
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutors Logan Teisch and Melanie Laprade before Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin. After the verdict, Teisch credited the detectives of the Essex County Homicide Task Force, the responding Newark police officers and the U.S. Marshals Service: "Their efforts were instrumental in bringing the defendant to justice."
Laprade addressed what the verdict means for Anderson's family: "While no verdict can bring Vincent back or ease the pain of those who loved him, this conviction affirmed that his life mattered."
Vincent Anderson was 60 years old when he was shot once in the back on October 22, 2023, after a verbal confrontation at Clinton Place and Renner Avenue in Newark. The jury's verdict, delivered October 20, 2026, came three days short of the third anniversary of his death.
Background: a three-year road from shooting to verdict
The timeline of this case — a 2023 shooting, a cross-country arrest within days, and a jury verdict in October 2026 — is typical of serious Essex County homicide prosecutions, where forensic work, witness preparation and court scheduling stretch across years. For the family of the victim, the prosecutor's office framed the verdict as the first formal closure the legal system can offer: accountability established by a jury, with the sentence still to come.
Newark and Essex County readers should note what the verdict does and does not do. It establishes King's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on all three counts, as the jury found. It does not set his punishment: under the range announced by the prosecutor's office, the court can impose anything from 30 years to life in New Jersey State Prison at the January hearing.
What happens next
King is scheduled to be sentenced on January 5, 2027, in Essex County Superior Court. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office also used the announcement to repeat its standing appeal for public help on criminal activity through its confidential tips line, 1-877-TIPS-4EC (1-877-847-7432), saying all calls remain confidential.