Leonard Pettigrew Sr., 58, was shot and killed on July 29, 2021, on the 1400 block of Stuyvesant Avenue in Trenton’s West Ward. Known locally as a friendly handyman with a green thumb who helped neighbors with gardening and maintenance, Pettigrew was found with a gunshot wound to the chest after a 911 call around 1:15 p.m. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival, the city’s 13th homicide that year.

Police took a 26-year-old relative, Emmanuel Shabazz-Gerald, into custody at the scene and charged him with murder and weapons offenses. Shabazz-Gerald has said he acted in self-defense, claiming Pettigrew struck him in the head with a gardening tool; witnesses and other family members disputed that version, saying any injury to Shabazz-Gerald was accidental. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office moved forward with the case.

If anyone knew Leonard Pettigrew or witnessed the events on Stuyvesant Avenue that afternoon, can you come forward with information?