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Leonard Ellison, 36, and Shawn Gilford, 41, were both charged with first-degree murder and three related weapons offenses for the killing of 42-year-old Robert Owens, Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Elizabeth Police Department Chief Giacomo Sacca and Director Earl Graves said.
Elizabeth police responded to 3rd and Livingston streets where they found Owens with a gunshot wound, said Union County Assistant Prosecutor Julie Peterman, who is prosecuting the case.
Owens was subsequently pronounced dead and Ellison and Gilford being identified as suspects, authorities said.
Ellison was arrested in Elizabeth by members of the Prosecutor’s Office and Sheriff’s Office, while Gilford was apprehended at his home in Monroe Township with the assistance of the Middlesex County Special Operations Response Team and the Monroe Township Police Department, Ruotolo said.
Both men were lodged in the Union County Jail pending first appearances and detention hearings to take place in Union County Superior Court.
Anyone with information about this matter is still being urged to contact Homicide Task Force Sgt. Christopher Scuorzo at 908-472-0492 or Detective Ryan Kirsh at 908-347-1420.
The investigation was led by the Union County Homicide Task Force and assisted by the Elizabeth Police Department, Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit, and Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit.
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