Bensalem, Pennsylvania Man Sentenced To 30 Years In State Prison For Fatally Shooting Willingboro Teen In 2021

Saturday, May 25, 2024, 3:00 A.M. ET. By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

WILLINGBORO, NJ.- A 24-year-old Bensalem, Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to a term of 30 years in New Jersey State Prison for the 2021 execution-style murder of a 14-year-old boy at a Willingboro gas station in August of 2021.

     According to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw, Tamir Phillips appeared in Burlington County Superior Court and was sentenced by the Honorable Terrence R. Cook, J.S.C. to a 30-year term in prison. Judge Cook ordered that Phillips must serve the entire 30 years before becoming eligible for parole.

     In November 2023, following a trial, a jury sitting in Burlington County, New Jersey found Phillips guilty on the charges of first-degree Murder; second-degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon; and second-degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose.

     According to court records, the conviction and sentence stem from an investigation that began in the afternoon hours of August 21, 2021, when members of the Willingboro Police Department responded to the Phillips 66 Gas Station located on the First Block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Willingboro following receiving a report of a shooting.

     Upon arrival, Police Officers learned that a teen, identified as Jesse Everett, 14, of Willingboro, New Jersey was transported by way of a private vehicle to Virtua Willingboro Hospital. The teen was then airlifted to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased later in the afternoon.

     Shortly after the shooting, Phillips, who was known to stay in Willingboro was immediately identified as the shooter and charges were filed against him the next day.

     The investigation determined that the day before the shooting, the owner of a 2014 Honda Civic had contacted Willingboro Police to report that the vehicle had been stolen. Detectives further uncovered that the owner of the Civic would at times let Phillips to use the car. The investigation determined that just before the shooting, Phillips was a passenger in another vehicle that was driving along Martin Luther King Drive when he spotted the Civic at the pumps of the Phillips 66 Gas Station.

     The driver pulled into the gas station behind the Civic, which was being driven by Everett. Phillips jumped out of the other car and went to the driver’s side of the Civic, confronting Everett who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the Civic, before firing a single gunshot striking Everett in the head. Two other people were in the Civic but were uninjured at the time of the shooting.