Burlington Co. Man Sentenced To 25 Years In Fatal Shooting: Prosecutor

WILLINGBORO, NJ — A Willingboro man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting a 22-year-old woman three years ago inside her Maple Shade apartment, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said.

Semaj T. Pittman, 24, was sentenced on Sept. 22 by the Hon. Christopher J. Garrenger, J.S.C. Pitman pled guilty to one count of Aggravated Manslaughter (First Degree) earlier this year.

He must serve 85 percent of the term before becoming eligible for parole, Bradshaw said.

On February 23, 2020, officers from the Maple Shade Police Department were called to The Arbors apartment complex on Lenola Road for a report of a shooting. On arrival, they found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds coming out of the elevator on the ground floor.

Both were taken to Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, where the woman, 22-year-old Kayla Winkler, was pronounced dead. Her boyfriend, Ramek Bass of Philadelphia, who was 24 at the time, was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

According to investigation, Pittman and a juvenile teenager went to the apartment to rob Winkler and Bass, with whom they were acquainted. After they were allowed inside, Pittman pulled a gun and shot the victims as they tried to leave the apartment.

The teenager, an Evesham Township resident, pled guilty last year to murder (first degree), officials said.