A Monday-evening shooting on one of downtown Trenton's busiest streets has become a homicide investigation, after the man who was shot died in hospital and a suspect was caught near a train station with the help of a witness, authorities in New Jersey said. Police officers responded to the 300 block of East State Street in Trenton, Mercer County, at about 7:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10, 2026, following reports that a man had been shot, NJTODAY.NEWS reported, citing police. Officers found the victim, identified as Anthony Harden, 41, of Allentown, New Jersey, suffering from a gunshot wound to the lower chest.
Source: NJTODAY.NEWS
The shooting happened outside the Six 10 convenience store at East State Street and North Stockton Street, according to Peterson's Breaking News of Trenton, which reported a chaotic scene as police arrived and additional officers were called in. The spot is in the heart of the state capital's downtown, a few blocks from the city's main transit hub, at an hour when shops are still open and commuters are moving through the area.
Source: Peterson's Breaking News of Trenton
Harden was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton in extremely critical condition, authorities said. Because of the severity of his injuries, detectives from the Mercer County Homicide Task Force were called in from the start to assist Trenton police's Shooting Response Team with the investigation. Police later confirmed that Harden succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead early on Tuesday morning, November 11.
A witness, a train station and a quick arrest
The break in the case came from someone who saw it happen. According to police accounts reported by NJTODAY.NEWS and by NBC 10 Philadelphia, a witness saw the suspect leave the scene of the shooting and told officers the man was heading toward the Trenton train station — in NBC 10's words, the suspect was about to board a train when he was caught. The witness directed officers to the suspect's location near the River Line light-rail station, police said.
Leon DeShields III, 43, of Camden, New Jersey, was quickly apprehended in a joint response by NJ Transit police and Trenton police officers, authorities said. Police allege DeShields was found in possession of a .380-caliber handgun at the time of his arrest. Whether that handgun is the weapon used in the East State Street shooting has not been confirmed by authorities in the published reports, and Awaaz Punjab is not treating that link as established.
Charges, and what happens next in court
DeShields has been charged with attempted murder and related weapons offenses, authorities said. The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office has announced plans to file a motion to detain DeShields pending trial, which means a judge — not the police — will decide whether he stays in custody while the case moves forward. The charges are allegations: DeShields has not been convicted of anything in this case and is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.
Because Harden has since died, police say the investigation has escalated into a homicide inquiry, and it remains active and ongoing. The published police accounts so far list the attempted-murder and weapons charges filed at the time of the arrest; authorities have not, in those reports, announced any upgraded charge following the victim's death, and any such decision would rest with the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office after the investigation. Police have asked anyone with additional information about the incident to contact law enforcement.
Police have not released a motive for the shooting, have not said whether the victim and the accused knew each other, and have not confirmed that the .380-caliber handgun allegedly recovered at the arrest is the shooting weapon. Those points remain allegations or open questions until investigators or prosecutors state them on the record.
Why this downtown corridor matters
East State Street is Trenton's central downtown artery — the street that runs past City Hall and the city's offices in the capital of New Jersey, and the approach road to the Trenton Transit Center and the River Line station, among the busiest transit points in Mercer County. That geography is central to this case in two ways: the shooting happened in a heavily travelled public place in the early evening, and the suspect's alleged escape route toward the station is what allowed officers, guided by the witness, to make an arrest within a short distance of the scene.
Serious shootings in Trenton are investigated jointly for a reason: the city's Shooting Response Team handles the immediate police work, while the Mercer County Homicide Task Force — the county-level unit that joins whenever a shooting victim may not survive — takes on the evidence and prosecution file. That structure was in place from the first hours here, before Harden's death was confirmed, which is why the case could move straight into a homicide inquiry without changing hands.
For people who live, work and commute in Trenton and across Mercer County — including the region's large immigrant and Punjabi communities in central New Jersey, for whom Trenton is the county seat and a regular destination for courts, offices and transit — the next steps to watch are the detention hearing for the accused, any decision by prosecutors on upgraded charges now that the victim has died, and whether police release more detail about the motive and the recovered handgun. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when authorities put those answers on the record.