12ยฐ
Ex-con Shamar Leggette was the subject of a manhunt following the infamous 2022 gunpoint robbery of "Bling Bishop" Lamor Whitehead of Paramus during a live-streamed church service in Brooklyn.
Leggette, 41, of Brooklyn, also shot a man in Providence, RI last September, authorities there said.
Members of the U.S. States Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Task Force, assisting the New York office of the ATF,ย surprised Leggette at the MHO Inn and Suites on the highway's southbound side in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick around 2 p.m. Jan. 24.
A woman surrendered before theย 5-foot-6-inch, 140-poundย Leggette suddenly came out firing, according to federal sources.
Task force members shot back, they said.
Leggette was pronounced dead at 4:29 p.m.
Two guns were recovered near him,ย New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. No officers were injured, he added.
Platkin's officeย is reviewing the circumstances -- apparently because South Brunswick police were involved.
Leggette was wanted for robbing Whitehead, who became known for his Rolls Royce, bling and decade-long friendship with New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Three gunmen burst into Whitehead's Tomorrow International Ministries church in a rented space above a Haitian restaurant in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn and robbed him and his wife of an estimated $1 million worth of jewelry during a live-streamed service in July 2022.
Needless to say, the video ended up going viral.
Two accused accomplices -- Juwan Anderson and Say-Quan Pollack -- were arrested on federal charges a few weeks after the robbery.ย Leggette remained a fugitive until Wednesday.
Leggette had served separate prison stretches for robbery, attempted murder and weapons offenses and was released from the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Dutchess County in January 2022 following the second stint.
He was to remain on parole until February 2024, records show.
The bishop and his wife were robbed six months later.
FBI agents later arrested Whitehead on charges of conning a parishioner of his Canarsie church out of her retirement savings by promising to use the money to buy her a home.
He instead used it for a down payment on a $4.4 million home in Saddle River, just up Route 17 from Paramus, as well as fancy threads and other luxury items, federal prosecutors charged.
SEE: 'Bling Bishop' From Bergen Accused Of Faking Docs To Finance Paramus Mansion: 'FBI Set Me Up'
Click here to follow Daily Voice Newark and receive free news updates.
