The last defendant sought in the street shooting death of a 14-year-old girl in northern New Jersey earlier this year has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges.
Baseem Williams remains jailed on $2 million bail after he entered his pleas on Friday.
Authorities say the 22-year-old Paterson resident was found Tuesday night at a city home. He had been the focus of an intense manhunt since he and six other defendants were charged last month in the Sept. 20 slaying of high school freshman Nazerah Bugg.
Williams faces charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and employing juveniles for criminal activity. Three other men and three teenage boys also face various charges in the death of Bugg, who was killed when several shots were fired into a crowd of people.
Authorities have not said which defendant allegedly fired the shots that killed the teen. A 15-year-old girl was also wounded in the shooting, but is expected to recover.
Prosecutors have said they will seek to have the juvenile defendants tried as adults, but it's not clear when a ruling on that request will be made. They have said the shooting was retaliation for another shooting that had occurred several hours earlier in another part of Paterson.
Bugg's death came about two months after another Paterson girl, 12-year-old Genesis Rincon, was killed when a stray bullet struck her while she was riding a scooter to a family gathering.
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The deaths have many residents calling on local and state leaders to do more to help end the ongoing violence.
