TRENTON – Moments after 22-year-old Irvin “Swirv” Jackson was shot dead in a Trenton alley in broad daylight, a store surveillance camera captured a second-long key piece of evidence – a figure fleeing the scene.
While identifying the figure from the grainy surveillance video was nearly impossible, Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson said that the footage did give investigators an idea of just how many witnesses were at the scene.
The short footage was played multiple times Tuesday during the murder trial of Zaire Jackson, 22, who is accused of gunning down Irvin Jackson in Moses Alley in 2012. The two men were not related.
Prosecutors have said the motive was linked to a fight between Zaire Jackson and another man the day before the shooting, as well as an incident the night before the shooting when someone fired shots at Zaire Jackson’s house. Zaire Jackson placed the blame on his friend, Irvin Jackson, and waited for him on North Hermitage Avenue the next day before chasing him into the nearby Moses Alley and shooting him to death, according to prosecutors.
Street code prompted shooting, investigators say
The surveillance footage that prosecutors showed in court captured the intersection of Moses Alley and North Hermitage Avenue and depicted a dark figure fleeing the area just after the shots were fired. In the moments that followed the shots the video showed multiple people walking out of nearby houses and stores, witnessing the immediate aftermath of the slaying.
It was the one bit of surveillance footage that investigators had to work with, and it was shaky at best, Peterson testified Tuesday. Prosecutors have said that witnesses identified Zaire Jackson from the footage.
Defense attorney Steve Lember called those witness accounts into question Tuesday, reminding the jury during cross examination that Irvin Jackson was involved in drugs and suggesting that he could have been killed in a “drug deal gone wrong.”
He also brought up a disagreement Irvin Jackson had with another man who only goes by the nickname “Ease” when questioning Peterson.
Peterson testified that “Ease” and Irvin Jackson had a contentious relationship because Jackson was known to be talking to the mother of Ease’s child but police never looked into “Ease” as a suspect.
The trial is expected to continue Wednesday morning.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman.
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