New Jersey man goes to settle Facebook beef with a ‘family nemesis.’ Then he opens fire and kills a 9-year-old girl: ‘Stupid Facebook stuff’
An online fight triggered the incident, the court said.
23-year-old Isiah M. Roberts has been sentenced on Oct. 23 to 18 years in prison for the fatal shooting of nine-year-old Sequoya Bacon-Jones near an apartment in a Trenton, New Jersey, neighborhood. The tragedy reportedly occurred when he targeted a “family nemesis” whom he was beefing with on Facebook.
On Mar. 25, 2022, Roberts, who was 19 years old at the time, arrived at Kingsbury Square Apartments after his family texted him to “get down to Kingsbury” when his sister became involved in a physical altercation with another woman that stemmed from an argument on Facebook, according to NJ.com. When Roberts arrived, his family reportedly gave him the name of a man they deemed a “family nemesis.”
Roberts went to retrieve a gun, though officials have yet to clarify where, before opening fire in the apartment’s courtyard, intending to shoot the man. However, Sequoya, who was playing with her brother and friends in the courtyard, was hit by a stray bullet when she tried to find cover with her brother.
Court says incident stemmed from Facebook fight
“Mar. 25, 2022, lives in my head on repeat,” Sequoya’s mother, Sacha Bacon-Jones, told the court on Friday. “I heard the shots, and then I ran, and the first person I see was my son, and he’s screaming, ‘Sequoya got shot!’ And when I see her, that is the image I see [in] my head… she bleeding. I’m stuck. I’m shocked.”
First responders immediately transported Sequoya to a local hospital before she was airlifted to a New Brunswick hospital due to her critical condition and need for more advanced medical care. However, Sequoya’s vital signs flatlined four times during the transfer, and she ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
Bacon-Jones, who described what triggered the shooting as “stupid Facebook stuff,” according to Law&Crime, said she has let go of any resentment toward him. “I do forgive him. Cause God told me to, and it only feels right to. Because if I don’t, I will harbor hatred and I don’t want to harbor hatred,” Bacon-Jones said. “I just don’t want him to forget my daughter. She deserves to be remembered just like she deserved to live.”
Roberts accepts his sentence
While Roberts remained silent during the sentencing hearing, his lawyer, John Hartmann, told the court that his client had not intended to shoot the young girl. However, Roberts admitted to showing willful neglect of human life.
“He has accepted responsibility,” Hartmann told the court during Roberts’ April hearing, where he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. “He really feels horrible about what occurred.”
Judge Robert Lytle, however, argued that Roberts “exercised terrible judgment” by “unnecessarily” escalating what was otherwise just a physical altercation. To Prosecutor Michael Grillo, the incident also highlighted the danger of unregulated firearms: “This is what happens when people carry guns.”
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