Fatal Applebee's Shooting May Be Tied To Ongoing Feud: Report

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ — A fatal shooting involving two Lawrence Township men in an Applebee’s on Route 1 appears to be tied in to a dispute between the two men that goes back decades. Noel Powell III, 27, was arrested at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Devin Smith. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has said it will file a motion to have Powell detained.

Powell and Smith knew each other for a number of years before last week’s shooting, according to an nj.com report. However, it wasn’t clear what lead to the shooting in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Smith was shot in the head while he drank alone at the bar at about 12:25 a.m. that morning, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Powell fled the restaurant in a dark-colored SUV following the shooting, according to the prosecutor's office.
The owner of that SUV — which Powell had been using for the last several weeks — has been found, according to nj.com. Powell had been using it for the last several weeks. Powell was wearing the same clothes on the night of the murder that he had been wearing when he appeared in municipal court on Nov. 13. It was unknown why he was in court.

Smith had a three-year-old daughter, whose mother expressed relief that Powell had been captured Sunday night. "I feel so relieved," Briana Anderson — the mother of Smith's daughter — posted on her Facebook page Sunday night. "Justice is served. Long live Devin!"

The restaurant reopened one day after the fatal shooting, with counseling available for anyone who was working at the time of the murder.

The attached image of Noel Powell III was provided by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office