Shamar Leggette, 41, was shot at the MHO Inn and Suites on Route 1 near Promenade Boulevard in South Brunswick after exchanging gunfire with officers.
Officials say members of the U.S. Marshals and the New York office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives attempted to execute an arrest warrant for the suspect in several felony offenses before a scuffle ensued around 2:45 p.m.
Leggette was shot by officers and pronounced dead around 4:30 p.m.
Law enforcement sources told Eyewitness News that Leggette was wanted for his connection in the robbery of Bishop Lamor Whitehead.
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Bishop Whitehead was robbed at gunpoint in the middle of a livestreamed church service on July 24, 2022. He said three men waving guns stole hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry from him and his wife.
At the time, two suspects were quickly arrested and charged federally. Police released an image of the third suspect, Leggette, soon after, but he had remained at large for nearly a year and a half before he was fatally shot on Wednesday.
Leggette served two sentences in state prison for robbery, attempted murder and weapons possession and was released from Fishkill Correctional Facility six months before Bishop Whitehead was robbed.
"Now the third suspect is dead. What sense does that make? It's so senseless, you know, it's so senseless," Bishop Whitehead said.
In a livestream Wednesday night, Whitehead, who himself has since been federally indicted for bank fraud, spoke about the lasting trauma of the violent crime he and his family endured.
"This was the guy that put the gun in my wife's face and put the gun in my 8-month-old daughter's face, and he came put the gun to my head and he ripped my clergy collar off and ripped my chains off and he was just brutal," he said.
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The Attorney General's Office as well as New Jersey state police are investigating the fatal shooting.
Fortunately, no officers were injured during the shooting. Authorities recovered two firearms near the suspect.
A woman in the hotel room was taken out without incident and was not injured, law enforcement sources say.
Even though the shooting occurred in South Brunswick, it did not involve South Brunswick police officers, a source confirmed. Additionally, the NYPD is not involved with the investigation at this time.
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