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NJ Pair Charged In Fatal Shooting Of High School Senior -- An Unintended Victim: Prosecutor

One of two Burlington County men charged in the fatal shooting of a Willingboro high school senior, was also charged in the shooting of a woman and 2-year-old.

Sylas Young, left, and Kavon Carter

Sylas Young, left, and Kavon Carter

Photo Credit: BCPO

The teenager was an unintended victim who was shot outside his home during a neighborhood dispute, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Willingboro Township Acting Public Safety Director Captain Ian Bucs.

Sylas Young, 19, of the Sunbury Village section of Pemberton Township, was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder first-degree gang criminality and weapons offenses, Coffina and Bucs said Wednesday.

Kavon Carter, 24, also of Pemberton, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, gang criminality and promoting organized street crime, all first-degree offenses, Coffina and Bucs said.

Warrants were served to the defendants inside the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly where they were being held on unrelated charges, they said.

The suspects were ordered to be detained at a hearing Wednesday in Superior Court. The Prosecutor’s Office will prepare the case for presentation to a grand jury for possible indictment, Coffina said.

An investigation began after Willingboro police were called to the first block of Barrington Lane just before 11:30 p.m. on April 22 for shots fired.

Police found the body of Yahsinn Robinson, who was a senior at Willingboro High School, Coffina and Bucs said. Robinson had been struck by gunfire multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene, they said.

An investigation revealed that Carter and Young, and their associates from Pemberton Township, had been involved in a long-running dispute with certain residents of the Buckingham Park section of Willingboro. The investigation determined that this shooting stemmed from an escalation of that friction. 

Young was also charged in the April 29 shooting of a 24-year old woman who had been struck in the lower leg by gunfire, and a 2-year-old boy had been grazed across his buttocks, Coffina and Bucs said. Both were taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden for treatment.

Robinson, who was returning home from his part-time job when killed, was not involved in the conflict, according to Coffina and Bucs.

The investigation was conducted by the Willingboro Township Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. The lead investigators are WTPD Detective Brandon Smith and BCPO Detective Sean Tait.

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