NEWARK, NJ — A Newark man with a previous felony conviction made his initial appearance in court on March 7 on a criminal complaint charging him with two counts of illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition, the first count related to a June 2021 shooting in Newark, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced March 7. Kevin Hills, 21, was charged by complaint on Feb. 24, appeared by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa and was detained.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, on June 19, 2021, a shooting took place in Newark. Responding officers of the Newark Police Department found an abandoned Jimenez Arms Model JA-Nine 9mm semiautomatic pistol in a vacant lot near the scene and multiple spent shell casings on the sidewalk. NPD detectives later recovered video from the vicinity of the shooting recorded during the morning of the shooting. One video showed an individual matching Hills’ appearance firing a handgun in the same area where the shell casings and handgun were found.
On July 20, 2021, an NPD detective who had been assigned to investigate the shooting saw and stopped Hills. The detective then reportedly recovered from Hills’ waistband a Ruger 9mm handgun loaded with 11 rounds of ammunition.
Hills had previously been convicted in January 2019 in the New Jersey Superior Court of aggravated assault on a corrections officer, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Each count of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty.
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