Shai Vanderpump was 23 when she was shot to death in Trenton, New Jersey in the early morning hours of July 30, 2021. Police found the Black transgender woman at a Kelsey Avenue residence around 4:40 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the face; she was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Authorities arrested 36-year-old Daniel L. Smith of Ewing the next evening after a motor vehicle stop and charged him with one count of murder plus several weapons offenses. Prosecutors were also exploring whether bias related to Vanderpump’s transgender identity played a role. An affidavit describes Smith at the house earlier in the evening, a hallway commotion, Smith calling 911 claiming someone had pulled him out of bed and that a person had been shot, a witness later identifying his voice on the recording, and YMCA security footage reportedly showing him running and washing his hands in a puddle before police located and watched him at his mother’s home.

Anyone who knew Shai, was in that neighborhood that night, or has information about what happened at the Kelsey Avenue residence is asked to come forward.