A Mercer County grand jury returned a six-count indictment charging two men with the shooting death of an off-duty corrections officer at a Trenton banquet hall last year.
Maurice Skillman, 27, and Hykeem Tucker, 26, were each indicted on one count of murder, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun. They were also indicted on three counts of fourth-degree aggravated assault for pointing a firearm at three additional victims.
Investigators charged Skillman and Tucker with firing a semi-automatic weapon from the parking lot of the Baldassari Regency banquet hall on Morris Avenue in the early morning hours of November 11, 2012.
Carl Batie, a 26-year-old Mercer County corrections officer, was one of several people standing on a second-story rear deck when he was shot in the head. Batie was pronounced dead a short time later, according to police.
“Officer Batie’s life and promising career were cut short by this senseless act of violence,” said Mercer County First Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri at the time of the incident.
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Both Skillman and Tucker remain in jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
