Crime & Safety
Accused Shooter In Trenton Standoff Absent From Court Appearance
Tyleeb Reese, accused of killing an innocent bystander during a 35-hour standoff, no-showed his appearance on Tuesday.
TRENTON, NJ — The man accused of fatally shooting an innocent bystander during a standoff in Trenton last week didn’t show up for a scheduled court appearance Tuesday afternoon, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office confirmed. Tyleeb Reese, 35, of Trenton, was scheduled to appear via video from the jail during an initial appearance at the civil courthouse, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said earlier in the day. He is charged with murder in the death of 56-year-old Robert Powell Jr.
No reason was given for his failure to appear, according to Mercer County Prosecutor's Office spokesperon Casey DeBlasio. Reese is scheduled for a pretrial detention hearing on Thursday. He has a history of failing to comply with court requests.
The standoff began at about 6:30 a.m. last Wednesday, May 10, when authorities attempted to serve him a warrant for failure to appear in court on an issue related to a Megan’s Law offense.
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In 2006, Reese sexually assaulted a child between the ages of 13 and 16 in Trenton, according to NJ 101.5. He was sentenced to over a year in jail in 2010. In 2013, he was charged with not registering as a sex offender under Megan’s Law, and served 47 days in jail.
Powell, a father of six who was expecting a grandchild, was fatally shot in the first few minutes of the incident while he was walking home from a local store. Police said he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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For the next 35 hours, police attempted to get Reese out of the home to no avail until Reese surrendered Thursday evening. Three Mercer County Sheriff’s officers were hospitalized after being shot, but were released soon thereafter. No one else, including Reese, was shot during the standoff, according to authorities.
Following his arrest, he complained of chest pains and was taken to a local hospital. He was released from the hospital on Monday, according to the prosecutor's office.
Attached image of Tyleeb Reese was provided by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office
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