CNBNews

Camden City, N.J. – A Philadelphia man was sentenced today to life in prison with no possibility of parole for the 2021 fatal shooting of an elderly bicyclist in Camden City, announced Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay and Camden County Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez.

Maurice Peaker, Jr., 29, was found guilty on August 15, 2023, of first-degree Murder in the death of 67-year-old Thomas Smith of Camden.  The verdict was returned after a jury trial in Camden County Superior Court.  Peaker was also found guilty of second-degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon and second-degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose.

On August 15, 2021, at approximately 3:29 a.m., the Camden County Police Department received a ShotSpotter notification for six rounds in the area of the 1100 block of Kaighn Avenue in Camden.  Officers responded and located the victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds on the sidewalk near Kaighn Avenue and Rose Street. He was transported to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at approximately 4:10 a.m.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video from the area and determined that Thomas Smith was shot as he crossed Kaighn Avenue on a bicycle by an individual in a passing vehicle. The vehicle was found to be a 2000 Nissan Maxima with damage to the passenger side taillight. Detectives tracked the vehicle through Camden both before and after the shooting. The vehicle was captured by an automated license plate reader and the license plate was identified.

Detectives located the Nissan Maxima in the parking lot of an apartment building on the 200 block of Oakland Avenue in Audubon, NJ and obtained surveillance video from that area. The person operating the vehicle on the morning of the shooting was determined to be Peaker, who was residing at that time with a girlfriend at the apartment building in Audubon.

The Nissan Maxima was searched and detectives located a shell casing in the vehicle that was the same caliber and manufacturer as the five shell casings recovered at the scene of the shooting.  Ballistic testing later confirmed all six shell casings were discharged in the same firearm.

Peaker was captured on surveillance video entering and exiting the apartment building several times on the morning of the shooting.  Shortly before 3:00 a.m., he was captured entering the building.  Less than four minutes later, he exited the building wearing a hat and a mask. The Nissan Maxima returned to the apartment building’s parking lot shortly after 3:38 a.m., less than 10 minutes after the shooting.  When Peaker entered the building, he still wearing the hat and mask as well as carrying a tote bag.  The tote bag that was recovered by detectives and later tested positive for the chemical elements that are characteristic of gunshot residue.

Peaker was apprehended in Yeadon, PA on August 26, 2021, by the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force – Camden Division and the U.S. Marshals Eastern PA Violent Crimes Task Force – Philadelphia Division.

The state was represented by Assistant Prosecutor/Homicide Unit Section Chief Peter Gallagher of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.  The case was investigated by Sergeant Andrew McNeil of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office along with Detective Salvatore Russomanno of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, Lieutenant Gordon Harvey of the Camden County Police Department, and Sergeant Edward Gonzalez of the Camden County Police Department.