A Trenton man was on parole and on release with pending gun charges when he allegedly shot an Atlantic City man and then barricaded inside a home with four juveniles last week.
Anthony Matthews, 31, also had 10 warrants out of multiple jurisdictions, Superior Court Judge Patricia Wild noted during his detention hearing Tuesday.
“I have to say, when I reviewed this, I thought, ‘This is a classic case of what is he doing on the street?'” Wild said before ordering Matthews held.
The victim went to the hospital, leading police to the home where they found Matthews on the stoop.
Officer Franco Sydnor, a crisis negotiator, was able to get Matthews to release the children, and eventually talked him into surrendering peacefully, according to the report.
A search of the residence led to a Ruger handgun believed to have been used in the shooting, according to the charges.
But the judge was perplexed as to why Matthews was even on the street at that time, considering his past and current criminal history.
He was arrested in Atlantic City on Dec. 29, 2021, after police were called to 400 block of Wisteria Road for a man that was threatened by an armed man, police said at the time.
He was on pretrial release for that, and also on probation from a prior drug case.
Matthews’ prior charges also include a domestic incident in 2017, the Trentonian reported at the time.
Matthews and the then-22-year-old woman were involved in an argument over a child that turned physical, according to the report attributed to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Matthews allegedly punched the woman in the face and pushed over a television that nearly struck the child’s head.
Half of his 12 pending charges prior to the latest arrest were for weapons offenses, the judge said. There is also an allegation of animal cruelty.
Matthews, who appeared via video from the jail, tried to walk out of the room as the judge was listing his prior convictions and charges.
Wild said whether he stayed or not, she would continue with her ruling.
He did come back into frame before she officially ordered him held.
Matthews will now remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
