Three Camden men were indicted Wednesday on murder, kidnapping, assault and related charges for the September carjacking and shooting of a North Jersey couple that left one dead and the other hurt.
Phillip Byrd, 21, Eric Darden, 20, and Raheem Simmons, 18, face 23 charges each for the carjacking and murder of the couple from the Atlantic City Trump Taj Mahal Casino on September 18, 2011.
Byrd, Darden and Simmons were caught on surveillance camera at about 8 a.m. Sunday just before they approached 28-year-old Sunil Rattu of Old Bridge, N.J. and 24-year-old Radha Ghetia of Parlin, N.J. and forced them at gunpoint into a vehicle.
The three men then forced Ghetia to drive several blocks to an alley near the 500 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard. They then shot both Ghetia and Rattu, killing Rattu, police said.
Ghetia, the girlfriend of the victim, was expected to make a full recovery.
Rattu and Ghetia were in Atlantic City to celebrate their graduation from nursing school, Rattu’s family told NBC Philadelphia.
The Saturn Ion the men allegedly drove that day, which was earlier reported missing from Haddonfield, N.J., connected them to the case, authorities said.
Within several days each man was taken into custody separately.
The men each face felony murder, murder, kidnapping, carjacking, armed robbery, aggravated
assault, conspiracy and weapons charges.
