The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office charged three men Monday in the death of 19-year-old Brendan P. Tevlin, the Livingston resident and Seton Hall Prep graduate who was gunned down on Northfield Avenue in West Orange on June 25, reports say. Prosecutors say the motive was robbery.
The three men are Ali Muhammad Brown, 29, of Seattle, and Jeremy Villagran, 19, and Eric Williams, 18, both of West Orange, according to a report in the Star-Ledger Monday. Brown is also linked to a double murder in Seattle, and the gun used to kill Tevlin was also used in those murders, the report said.
Villagran lived in the apartment complex where Tevlin’s body was found, but prosecutors said it is unclear how the three men knew one another. Prosecutors said the suspects robbed Tevlin of several personal items.
Tevlin was found shot to death in his family’s Jeep. Authorities had described the killing as “targeted” because of the viciousness of the attack, said the Star-Ledger report.
Tevlin had recently finished his freshman year at the University of Richmond. The eldest of four children, he was the grandson of retired Maplewood firefighter Tom Tevlin and nephew to Maplewood Fire Deputy Chief Joseph Callaghan.
Callaghan had described his nephew as “a straight-A kid, Eucharistic minister at church, first-year honor student at the University of Richmond, a lacrosse player at Seton Hall Prep, a surfer, a great cousin to my children, a great brother to three younger siblings, an all-around wonderful, loving, caring kid.”
In the news conference, prosecutors also announced the arrest of Andre Fields, 31, of Irvington, in the death of 17-year-old Cheyanne Bond of Newark, who was shot and killed on June 29, said the report. Police said her assault began as an iPhone robbery.
