Two people have been charged with fatally shooting two men outside the Bordentown 7-Eleven last month, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Bordentown Township Police Department Officer-in-Charge Lt. Frank Nucera III announced yesterday.
Justford Doe, 23, of Philadelphia, and Giovanni Varanese, 21, of Cherry Hill, have been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, second-degree certain persons not to possess weapons, and second degree eluding capture.
The victims were Daniel Patterson, 22, of Philadelphia, and Mason Knott, 21, of Wrightstown.
Doe and Varanese were served with their warrants inside the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, where they are being held on unrelated offenses.
The prosecutor’s office said it will seek to extradite the defendants to New Jersey, where the case will be prepared for presentation to a Burlington County grand jury for possible indictment.
The investigation began after police were called to the 7-Eleven/Valero gas station at the intersection of Route 130 north and Farnsworth Avenue on Nov. 5 at approximately 11:30 p.m. after a man who had been shot in the parking lot walked inside and requested assistance.
The victim, Patterson, exited the store, collapsed outside and died at the scene. The second shooting victim, Knott, died after being taken to a Trenton hospital. Autopsies performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that Patterson died from multiple gunshot wounds, while Knott was killed by a shot to the head.
Authorities say that following the shootings, the defendants fled in a Jeep and later took off on foot after crashing their vehicle in Florence Township.
The investigation was conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Bordentown Township Police Department and the Florence Township Police Department, with assistance from the Bordentown City Police Department and the New Jersey State Police. The Mount Laurel Police Department and the Pemberton Township Police Department provided tracking dogs at the crash scene.
The lead investigators are BCPO Det. Joseph R. Clark, BCPO Det. Kaitlyn White and BTPD Det. Michael Moloney Jr. The defendants will be prosecuted by assistant prosecutor Robert Van Gilst, supervisor of the BCPO Major Crimes Unit.