Jersey City ex-con, 23, killed execution-style

Monday, March 30, 2009
CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A 23-year-old Jersey City man with a criminal history was shot dead execution-style early Saturday morning as he walked along Summit Avenue, officials said

Antwan Baisden was shot twice around 3 a.m. as he walked toward the residence he was staying at on Astor Place, said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

An autopsy conducted Saturday by the state Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Newark found that Baisden died from a bullet that penetrated the back of the head and exited from the front, DeFazio said.

It was not clear where the second bullet struck Baisden, DeFazio said. The shooting appeared to be premeditated and could be connected to a shooting earlier this year, the prosecutor said.

"No motive has been definitely established at this point but clearly it wasn't a robbery," DeFazio said.

Investigators believe the shooter was on foot when he fired the gun, but fled the scene in a car, DeFazio said.

Baisden was released from state prison last Aug. 29 after serving a year and nine months for a drug possession conviction in Hudson County, police reports said.

Shortly before he was shot, Baisden was speaking with several acquaintances in the area of the Booker T. Washington public housing complex in Jersey City, DeFazio said.

Baisden's last known address was on Danforth Avenue, he said.

The Jersey City Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Division are continuing to investigate. No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information should contact the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Division at (201) 915-1345.