17-Year-Olds Killed New Brunswick Teen, 16

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Two men, Anjel Ponse Paz and Jerry Cuevas-Sanchez, 18, were sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of 16-year-old New Brunswick teen, Brandon Romero.

The two older teens shot Romero to death in 2025, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Linda Estremera and New Brunswick Police Chief Vincent Sabo.

They were 17 at the time they committed the fatal shooting. Both the shooters and the victim all lived in New Brunswick.

Superior Court Judge Colleen Flynn sentenced on Sept. 28. Their 18-year prison term is subject to the No Early Release Act.

The fatal shooting happened March 31, 2025, in the city of New Brunswick: At 6:35 p.m. on that date, New Brunswick Police responded to a 911 call reporting shots fired in the area of Rutgers Street and Lee Avenue.

New Brunswick Police officers arrived to find Romero suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

The 16-year-old boy died at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

Romero was remembered in this GoFundMe page set up for his grieving family as "a bright, hardworking young man with so much ahead of him. He comes from a loving and hardworking family who has always done everything they can to provide for him and support his dreams."

Ponse Paz and Cuevas-Sanchez both previously pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the first degree on May 6 of this year. There were both prosecuted as adults after a hearing was held in Family Court to permit the state to do so.